r-NRLF 


SB    MM    3EM 


EX  L^mBR-IS 

-«^ - 

ALEXANDER 

GOLDSTEIN 


ALEXANDER  GOLDSTEIN 


SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

AND   OTHER  PAPERS 

S.  SCHECHTER.  M.  A.,  LITT.  D. 


SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

AND  OTHER  PAPERS 


BY 


S.  SCHECHTER,  M.  A.,  LITT.  D. 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  JEWISH  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 
OF  AMERICA 


CINCINNATI 

ARK  PUBLISHING  CO. 
1915 


& 

*w 

* 


•  *.' 


COPYRIGHT,  1915, 

BY 
ARK  PUBLISHING  CO. 


TO 

DOCTOR  CYRUS  ADLER 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   DROPSIE  COLLEGE 
COLLEAGUE   AND  FRIEND 


773204 


PREFACE. 

The  following  pages,  representing  a  selection  of 
Papers  and  Addresses  delivered  on  various  occasions, 
were  intended  to  appear  in  the  form  of  a  volume  some 
three  years  ago  in  commemoration  of  the  Tenth 
Anniversary  of  the  re-organization  of  the  Jewish 
Theological  Seminary  of  America.  Illness  and  other 
untoward  circumstances  prevented  me  from  giving 
my  attention  to  their  publication  until  lately.  But 
it  is  this  delay  which  made  it  possible  to  include  the 
last  five  papers. 

These  papers  lay  no  claim  to  the  attainments  of 
rhetoric,  which  are  unfortunately  beyond  my  powers, 
nor  will  the  reader  find  in  them  any  indulgence  in 
abstruse  learning,  which,  even  if  it  were  within  my 
reach,  would  be  out  of  place  in  popular  Addresses 
like  these.  The  references  to  Rabbinic  literature 
were  mostly  omitted  for  the  same  reason.  All  1 
endeavored  to  do  was  to  express  my  thoughts  in  plain 
and  direct  language,  in  which  I  hope  I  did  not  entirely 
fail. 

Generally  speaking,  the  burden  of  these  Addresses, 
mostly  delivered  on  Commencement  and  other  fete 
days  of  the  Seminary,  may  be  described  as  a  plea 
for  traditional  Judaism,  which  it  is  the  mission 
of  the  Seminary  to  teach  and  preach  in  this  country. 


PREFACE 


They  protest  against  the  "shock- tactics"  of  Higher 
Bible  criticism;  they  plead  for  a  better  appreciation 
of  Israel's  past  and  a  closer  connection  between  this 
past  and  the  present  and  the  future;  they  demand  a 
more  thorough  study  of  Jewish  thought  and  Jewish 
life  as  deposited  in  our  great  literature;  they  insist 
on  the  development  of  Jewish  science  which  would  en- 
able us  to  compete  with  other  institutions  of  higher 
learning;  they  also  advocate  a  deeper  devotion  to  the 
laws  distinctly  characteristic  of  the  Jewish  conception 
of  holiness,  leading  to  a  more  strict  observance  of 
the  precepts  of  the  Torah,  and  endeavor  to  make  us 
sensible  of  the  danger  of  incessant  innovations  which 
must  in  the  end  touch  the  very  vital  organism  of 
Judaism. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  these  Addresses 
often  revert  to  the  desirability  of  adopting  in  our 
studies  all  the  methods  which  distinguish  modern 
research  from  the  mere  erudition  of  olden  times. 
They  also  set  forth  the  necessity  of  the  future  Rabbi's 
receiving  a  proper  training  in  secular  subjects,  as 
guaranteed  by  the  degree  of  B.  A.  obtained  in  some 
College  of  standing,  before  wholly  devoting  himself 
to  Jewish  learning.  The  greater  part  of  a  rather 
lengthy  lecture  is  devoted  to  proving  that  not  only 
was  the  application  of  scientific  methods  to  Jewish 
studies  not  incompatible  with  the  spirit  of  con- 
servative Judaism,  but  that  it  was  largely  con- 


PREFACE  ix 

servative  Jews,  or  at  least,  men  indifferent  to  Reform 
tendencies,  who  availed  themselves  of  the  scien- 
tific method  and  became  subsequently  the  most 
prominent  representatives  of  the  scientific  move- 
ment, both  by  their  zeal  and  their  productions. 

These  Addresses  being  mostly  directed  to  young 
men  at  the  solemn  hour  of  their  leaving  the  Institu- 
tion to  engage  in  the  sacred  calling  of  Rabbi,  neces- 
sarily contain  admonitions  with  regard  to  the  special 
virtues  expected  from  the  spiritual  leaders  in  Israel, 
such  as  humility,  meekness,  peacefulness  and  consider- 
ateness.  There  is  nothing  new  in  these  admonitions. 
They  have  been  repeated  often  enough,  but  this 
very  frequency  shows  the  danger  to  which  the  "men 
higher  up"  were  exposed  at  all  times;  and  the  danger 
has  certainly  not  passed  away  in  our  time,  when 
those  smitten  with  the  disease  of  sensationalism  find 
ready  response  in  a  press  prepared  to  satisfy  their 
vanity  with  all  the  means  for  publicity  at  its  command. 

Sometimes  opportunity  was  taken  in  these  Ad- 
dresses to  appeal  rather  to  the  community  at  large 
than  to  our  graduates.  As  an  instance,  it  will  suffice 
to  mention  the  graduation  speech,  headed:  "The 
Problem  of  Religious  Education,"  in  which  the 
crying  need  for  a  religious  education,  only  accessible 
to  the  few,  and  even  to  these,  in  a  very  perfunctory 
and  unmethodical  manner,  was  emphatically  pointed 
out.  I  may  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  merits  of  the 


x  PREFACE 

Seminary,  to  have  been  among  the  first  public 
bodies  which  tried  to  grapple  with  this  problem  and 
it  is  highly  gratifying  to  me  to  see  that  the  com- 
munity did  not  remain  quite  indifferent  to  our  appeal, 
so  that  a  regular  religious  educational  movement 
has  been  inaugurated  almost  all  over  the  country. 
It  has  not  a>  yet  worked  miracles,  but  has  already 
effected  some  improvement  in  the  methods  of  teach- 
ing Hebrew,  and  will  no  doubt,  in  the  course  of 
time,  make  progress  in  the  direction  of  religious 
instruction,  so  that  the  danger  of  a  Godless  posterity 
shall  be  averted. . 

As  indicated  above,  the  papers  constituting  this 
volume  are  an  expression  of  the  conservative  posi- 
tion occupied  by  the  Seminary.  This  conservative 
spirit,  I  need  hardly  say,  permeates  the  whole  Insti- 
tution. It  is  taught  by  the  Professors  in  the  class- 
room; it  is  expounded  in  the  pulpit  by  the  majority 
of  our  alumni;  and  is  propagated  by  its  friends  both 
in  writing  and  by  word  of  mouth  on  every  occasion. 

Not  quite  falling  within  the  scope  of  this  volume, 
are  the  three  papers  to  be  named  presently,  treating 
with  subjects  having  little  or  no  connection  with  the 
Seminary  or  its  policy.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
lecture  delivered  on  Abraham  Lincoln's  Centennial, 
forming  a  study  in  the  spiritual  make-up  of  the  great 
President,  little  discussed  before.  How  my  views 
will  be  accepted  by  Lincoln  specialists  is  a  question, 


PREFACE  xi 

but  whatever  the  answer,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
remark  that  my  conception  of  Lincoln's  character 
is  not  an  outcome  of  the  teaching  of  the  Seminary 
or  its  religious  tendency.  The  second,  is  the  paper 
entitled,  "Rebellion  Against  Being  a  Problem," 
delivered  more  than  ten  years  ago,  containing  political 
views  with  reference  to  certain  events  in  past  history, 
which  are  possibly  not  shared  by  my  colleagues  of 
the  Faculty  or  by  the  friends  of  the  Seminary  at 
large.  I  still  belong  to  that  older  world  which  ac- 
cepted certain  humanitarian  principles  handed  down 
to  us  from  the  French  Revolution  as  God-given 
truths,  and  which  still  looks  upon  the  "Declaration 
of  Independence,"  based  on  the  same  principles,  as 
a  sacred  document  in  spite  of  all  its  "glittering  gener- 
alities." These  "glittering  generalities"  have  built 
up  the  new  world,  while  the  so-called  "eternal  verities" 
or  "realities"  are  destroying  the  old  world.  "And 
be  it  indeed  that  I  have  erred,  my  error  remaineth 
with  myself,"  and  nobody  else  shall  be  made  respon- 
sible for  it. 

The  third  paper  is  the  one  headed:  "Zionism, 
A  Statement,"  published  in  December,  1906,  in  which 
I  explain  the  reasons  for  my  allegiance  to  Zionism. 
But  I  should  like  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that 
this  allegiance  cannot  be  predicated  of  the  Institution 
over  which  I  have  the  honor  to  preside,  and  which 
has  never  committed  itself  to  the  Movement,  leaving 


xii  PREFACE 

this  to  the  individual  inclination  of  the  students  and 
Faculty,  composed  of  Zionists,  anti-Zionists,  and 
indifferentists.  Speaking  for  myself,  Zionism  was, 
and  still  is,  the  most  cherished  dream  I  was  worthy 
of  having.  It  was  beautiful  to  behold  the  rise  of  this 
mighty  bulwark  against  the  incessantly  assailing 
forces  of  assimilation,  which  became  the  more  dan- 
gerous, as  we  have  now  among  us  a  party  permeated 
by  Christianizing  tendencies,  the  prominent  leaders 
of  which  are  even  clamoring  for  a  recognition  of  Paul, 
the  apostle  to  the  heathen — not  to  the  Jews.  These 
tendencies,  which  it  must  be  said  in  justice,  would 
have  been  strenuously  opposed  by  the  founders  of 
the  Reform  school,  are  now  thrust  upon  us  on  every 
occasion,  and  Heaven  knows  where  they  might  have 
landed  us,  but  for  the  Zionist  Movement  which  again 
brought  forth  the  national  aspect  as  a  factor  in  Jewish 
thought. 

But  this  dream  is  not  without  its  nightmares. 
For  in  their  struggle  to  revive  the  National  Senti- 
ment, some  of  the  Zionist  spokesmen  calling  them- 
selves by  preference  Nationalists,  manifested  such  a 
strong  tendency  to  detach  the  movement  from  all 
religion  as  can  only  end  in  spiritual  disaster.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  the  assimilation  of  Judaism  even 
as  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  assimilation  of  the 
Jew,  and  the  former  is  bound  to  happen  when  re- 
ligion is  looked  upon  as  a  negligible  quantity.  When 


PREFACE  xiii 

Judaism  is  once  assimilated  the  Jew  will  surely 
follow  in  its  wake,  and  Jew  and  Judaism  will  perish 
together.  All  this  is  a  consequence  of  preaching  an 
aspect  of  Nationalism  more  in  harmony  with  Roman 
and  similar  modern  models  than  with  Jewish  ideas  and 
ideals.  However,  nightmares  are  fleeting  and  evanes- 
cent— the  vision  as  a  whole  still  remains  glorious. 
The  aberrations  will,  let  us  hope,  be  swept  away 
quickly  enough  as  soon  as  their  destructive  nature  is 
realized  by  the  majority  of  the  Zionists  whose 
central  ideas  should  and  will  remain,  God  and  His 
people,  Israel. 

Of  a  personal  nature  are  the  few  obituaries  re- 
produced here.  They  form  a  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  friends  of  which  the  American  Jewish  public,  I 
am  sure,  has  sufficient  knowledge  to  honor  their  names. 

In  conclusion,  I  should  only  like  to  remark, 
that  when  reading  these  proofs  it  gave  me  special 
satisfaction  to  see  that  the  conciliatory  note  is  not 
absent  from  this  volume.  Standing  as  the  Seminary 
does  for  the  healthy  development  of  traditional 
Judaism  in  the  midst  of  many  movements  and 
vagaries  none  of  which  are  without  excesses,  and 
against  which  we  are  constantly  struggling,  it 
was  not  possible  that  the  controversial  feature 
should  be  entirely  eliminated  from  the  volume. 
Yet  it  will  be  found  that  the  ultimate  goal  at  which 
we  are  aiming  is  union  and  peace  in  American  Israel. 


xiv  PREFACE 

The  union  of  which  I  am  thinking  is  not  one  of  mere 
organization.  Organization  is  useful  in  the  way  of 
an  auxiliary,  but  its  saving  virtues  cannot  be  always 
relied  upon.  Whatever  its  effects  may  be  for  good, 
they  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  its  tendency 
towards  materialization,  resulting  as  history  teaches 
in  the  de-secration,  if  not  profanation  of  things  holy. 
The  union  we  are  in  need  of,  is  one  on  principle  and 
the  recognition  of  vital  facts,  decisive  in  our  past  and 
indispensable  for  our  safety  in  the  future,  by  which 
alone  Israel  can  hope  for  a  "name  and  remainder  upon 
the  earth."  •  Such  a  recognition,  however,  can  only  be 
brought  about  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  our  great 
literature,  in  which  alone  the  Jewish  soul  found  shelter 
and  expression  for  untold  generations,  joined  to  broad 
sympathy  and  loving  understanding  for  all  the  aspir- 
ations and  cravings  and  longings  and  hopes  recorded 
in  this  very  literature.  This  is  the  mission  of  colleges 
and  Jewish  learned  societies.  The  longer  I  live  in  this 
country,  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  only  such 
a  thorough  and  hearty  union  which  will  enable  us  to 
deal  with  the  great  problems,  spiritual  and  otherwise, 
confronting  us.  Parties  come  and  parties  go,  but  the 
word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever.  And  so  shall 
Israel. 

S.    SCHECHTER. 


CONTENTS. 

The  Emancipation  of  Jewish  Science      .  .        1 

The  Charter  of  the  Seminary             ....  9 

Higher  Criticism — Higher  Anti-Semitism          .            .  .35 

The  Seminary  as  a  Witness    .            .            .            .            .  41 

Spiritual  Honeymoons      .            .            .            .            .  .53 

Rebellion  Against  Being  A  Problem              ...  65 

The  Reconciliation  of  Israel         .            .            .            .  .73 

Altar  Building  in  America      .....  81 

Zionism:     A  Statement     .            .            .            .            .  .91 

The  Problem  of  Religious  Education            .            .            .  105 

Moritz  Steinschneider        .            .            .            .            .  .119 

Rabbi  as  a  Personal  Example            .            .            .            .  125 

Lector  Meir  Friedmann     ......    135 

Abraham  Lincoln         ......  145 

Benno  Badt 169 

The  Beginnings  of  Jewish  Wissenschaft       .            .            .  173 

The  Test  the  Rabbi  Should  Apply          .           .           .  .195 

The  Beth  Hamidrash 207 

Humility  and  Self-Sacrifice  as  the  Qualifications  of 

the  Rabbi          .  .  .    '       .  .  .  .217 

The  Assistance  of  the  Public  .  .  .  .229 

His  Majesty's  Opposition  .....   239 

"Lovingkindness  and  Truth"  ....         245 


THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  JEWISH  SCIENCE.* 

SPEAKING  is  not  my  metier.  I  was  brought  up  in 
an  atmosphere  of  silence,  where  people  listen, 
obey  and  occasionally  also  command.  I  am  not 
particularly  proud  of  my  incapability,  as  I  never 
boast  of  my  shortcomings.  I  am  only  stating  a  sad 
fact.  Another  fact  is,  that  I  came  originally  from 
a  place  in  which  eating  had  little  of  the  nature  of  a 
sacrament  and  was  never  accompanied  by  solemn 
speeches.  Either  the  dinner  was  a  success,  and  we 
gave  thanks  with  sighs  of  satisfaction  for  the  good 
things  we  received,  or  it  was  a  failure,  and  we  held 
our  peace  in  stoic  resignation. 

However,  there  is  an  old  proverb,  "If  you  come 
to  a  place,  follow  its  customs,"  and  I  mean  to  follow 
them.  In  fact,  except  such  trifling  things  as  ice  water 
and  certain  articles  of  a  rather  theological  nature 
which  I  cannot  well  digest,  there  is  no  country  whose 
manners  and  customs,  whose  institutions  and  con- 
ceptions of  right  and  wrong,  I  should  more  like  to 
adopt  and  make  my  own  than  those  of  this  great  and 
free  Republic.  It  was  the  dream  of  my  childhood 
when  I  learned,  through  the  Sepher  Haberith  and  the 
letters  of  Hag  Vidaver  in  the  Hebrew  weekly,  Hama- 
gid,  of  the  existence  of  a  continent  on  which,  accord- 
ing to  my  simple  conceptions,  people  should  stand 
on  their  heads,  and  who  yet  somehow  managed  to 
walk  erect  and  free  and  even  move  quicker  and  with 
*Address  delivered  at  the  Judaean  Banquet,  May  29,  1902. 


SEMI NAR  Y  A  DDRESSES 


a  surer  pace  than  we,  with  all  our  drill  of  thousands 
of  years.  It  became  dearer  to  me  when  such  books 
as  the  Stories  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  the  Lives 
of  Washington,  Jefferson  and  Lincoln  became  ac- 
cessible to  me,  whilst  in  later  life  American  history 
and  literature  became  a  passion  with  me,  so  that  I 
gave  many  an  hour  to  your  country  which  was  due 
to  Palestine,  Egypt  and  Babylonia.  I  am  thus  pre- 
pared to  adapt  myself  also  to  the  institution  of  after- 
dinner  speeches.  In  accordance  with  the  good  old 
Jewish  custom,  I  will  only,  in  the  presence  of  this 
distinguished  gathering,  premise  my  address  with 
the  words:  "With  your  permission,  my  superiors  in 
wisdom  and  my  masters  in  eloquence." 

Now  I  have  spoken  of  your  great  and  free  country. 
It  will,  therefore,  not  be  out  of  place  if  I  say  that  it 
rests  with  you  to  undertake  the  emancipation  of 
which  Zunz  dreamed  and  wrote  about  eighty  years 
ago.  The  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  he  wrote,  will 
never  be  complete  until  Jewish  science  is  emanci- 
pated. That  is  to  say,  till  Jewish  learning  and 
Jewish  scholarship  and  the  knowledge  of  its  literature 
have  become  recognized  factors  in  the  march  of  human 
intellect;  till  Jewish  science  should  occupy  a  position 
among  other  sciences  worthy  of  its  long  history  and 
its  influence  upon  mankind,  holding  an  independent 
place,  resting  on  its  own  merits,  free  from  all  patronage 
of  malicious  theologians  and  sulky  divines.  This  was 
a  wish  expressed,  as  I  have  said,  some  eighty  years 
ago.  But  matters  have  improved  very  little  since 
then.  If  possible,  they  have  grown  worse.  For 
dependent  as  the  oM  Jew  was  in  his  relations  to  the 
outer  world,  he  never  allowed  earthly  powers  to 


EMANCIPATION  OF  JEWISH  SCIENCE  3 

encroach  upon  his  spiritual  domain,  which  made 
his  real  life.  He  would  lend  and  borrow  and  buy  the 
old  clothes  of  the  poritz  (the  lord  of  the  estate),  but 
when  it  came  to  his  religion  he  was  every  inch  a  king. 
He  had  no  mortgage  on  his  liturgy;  it  was  entirely 
his  own,  and  he  watched  over  his  sacred  literature 
with  the  tenderness  and  the  jealousy  of  a  lover.  The 
reverse  of  the  picture  is  not  pleasant  to  dwell  upon. 
I  always  have  the  impression,  when  I  come  to  a 
synagogue  or  enter  the  study  of  a  Jewish  scholar, 
that  we  are  something  of  spiritual  "schnorrers." 

Now,  the  first  thing  that  we  have  to  recover  is 
the  Bible.  There  is  a  story  of  a  Catholic  saint  who  was 
beheaded  by  his  pagan  persecutors,  but,  like  a  good 
saint,  he  took  his  head  under  his  arm  and  walked  off. 
You  smile,  and  think  it  perhaps  too  much  of  a  miracle, 
but  a  Judaism  without  a  Bible  is  even  a  greater 
miracle.  It  would  mean  a  headless  Judaism,  for, 
gentlemen,  Judaism  is  not  merely  an  ethical  society 
placed  under  the  auspices  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
Moses  and  Aaron.  Nor  may  you  flatter  yourselves 
that  a  few  chapters  of  Lotze,  a  few  chapters  of  ill- 
digested  Kant,  a  few  pages  from  Matthew  Arnold's 
Literature  and  Dogma,  seasoned  with  a  little  Stein- 
thalism  and  a  shouting  of  Evolution — that  terrible 
word  which  has  wrought  more  mischief  and  produced 
more  platitudes  and  conceits  than  the  worst  theology 
ever  did,  there  being  not  a  fifth-rate  extension  lecturer 
who  does  not  feel  himself  the  promise  and  fulfillment 
of  all  humanity — you  may  not  think  that  such  in- 
gredients will  go  for  the  making  of  Judaism. 

Judaism  is  a  revealed  religion,  with  sacred  writings 
revealing   the  history  of   the  past,   making  positive 


SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 


demands  on  the  present  and  holding  out  solemn 
promises  for  the  future.  And  these  sacred  writings 
are  the  Bible,  and  they  ought  to  be  the  possession  of 
every  Jew,  interpreted  and  commented  on  in  the 
Jewish  spirit.  I  am  in  no  way  antagonistic  to  all 
that  is  modern.  I  confess  that  my  sympathies  for 
Wellhausen  are  not  very  strong  and  that  I  have  a 
tolerable  antipathy  against  "painted  Bibles"  and 
mutilated  Scriptures.  But  I  know  that  the  demands 
of  science  are  inexorable,  and  I  yield  to  no  one  in 
respect  for  such  serious  men  as  Dillman,  Kuenen  and 
Delitzsch.  But  the  question  may  be  asked  whether 
it  is  really  all  science  that  is  claimed  as  such.  My 
studies  within  the  past  years,  which  centered  largely 
around  the  Bible,  have  convinced  me  that  there  is 
much  in  the  higher  criticism,  which  is  at  best  theology 
of  a  kind,  not  philology  and  history. 

But  apart  from  this  question  there  is  another 
consideration.  An  old  friend  of  mine  once  said  to  me, 
"Even  if  you  are  able  to  translate  a  Psalm,  you 
understand  only  the  Psalm  but  not  the  Psalmist." 
Now  I  put  it  to  you,  whether  in  a  school  where  a  man 
like  Duhm,  one  of  the  oracles  of  higher  criticism, 
can  declare  that  the  Psalms  are  all  mere  rancorous 
party  pamphlets,  the  Psalmist  is  understood  or  not. 

Another  instance  is  the  attempt  by  a  majority  of 
higher  critics  to  eliminate  the  personal  element  from 
the  Psalms — I  mean  the  ich  question.  You  will  agree 
with  me,  I  think,  that  our  grandmothers  and  grand- 
fathers, who  did  read  the  Psalms  and  had  a  good 
cry  over  them,  understood  them  better  than  all  the 
professors.  I  am  not  pleading  here  for  an  orthodox 


EMANCIPATION  OF  JEWISH  SCIENCE  5 

commentary  to  the  Bible,  but  there  is  a  Jewish 
liberalism  and  a  Christian  liberalism  and  even  from 
the  point  of  view  of  liberalism  let  a  commentary  be 
written  in  the  spirit  of  a  Jewish  and  not  a  Christian 
liberalism.  Remember  that  the  Bible  was  not  dis- 
covered by  Cheyne  and  Wellhausen.  We  worked 
over  it  thousands  of  years  before  the  Occidentals  could 
read  a  Hebrew  sentence  correctly.  And  a  Jewish 
commentary  should  give  us  the  opinions  of  Rashi  and 
Aben  Ezra,  Samuel  Ben  Meir,  and  others  whose  words 
very  often  appear  in  present  manuals  under  the  firm 
of  Dillman,  Delitzsch  and  Ewald.  A  Jewish  com- 
mentary will  also  be  free  from  such  blasphemies  as 
Jahveolatry,  the  "whimsical  God  of  Israel,"  and 
similar  offensive  terms.  And  above  all  it  must  teach 
us  that  we  are  the  fulfillment  of  the  word  of  God, 
and  that  the  Old  Testament  and  the  whole  history  of 
Israel  are  not  a  mere  preamble  to  the  history  of 
Christianity. 

But  we  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  the  recovery 
of  the  Bible  alone.  There  is  a  large  field  of  Jewish 
post-Biblical  history  which  is  our  own  affair  to  provide 
for.  All  your  universities  and  colleges  do  very  little 
for  it.  You  have  probably  heard  the  story  of  the 
French  actress  who  appeared  only  in  the  first  act, 
never  knew  what  became  of  the  hero  in  the  fifth 
act,  and  so  believed  that  the  whole  story  finished  with 
the  incidental  family  quarrel,  occurring  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  play,  in  which  her  role  was  placed.  Now 
take  Schuerer  or  Holtzmann  or  Hausrath  and  you  will 
find  that  with  them  the  history  of  Judaism  terminates 
with  the  unfortunate  quarrel  which  took  place  be- 


SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 


tween  the  year  thirty  and  forty  of  our  present  era. 
They  never  give  a  thought  to  the  terrible  tragedy  and 
triumphs  upon  which  the  hero  Israel  but  entered  at 
that  period;  indeed,  they  think  we  have  not  survived 
the  family  quarrel. 

But  I  hope  that  no  Jewish  theologian,  to  whatever 
party  he  may  belong,  thinks  that  the  literature  cover- 
ing the  period  between  the  conclusion  of  the  Canon 
and  the  last  sermon  "published  by  request"  is  super- 
fluous and  non-existent  for  the  modern  Jew.  And 
let  me  tell  you  that  I  think  that  the  reform  party 
among  us  (I  do  not  like  the  term  "reform"  Jews, 
which  savors  of  schism)  is  as  much  in  need  of  a  thor- 
ough and  real  knowledge  of  Jewish  literature  in  all 
its  branches  and  departments  as  their  orthodox 
brethren.  Indeed,  the  orthodox  Jew  can  always  take 
his  manual  like  the  Chochamath  Adam  or  the  Kizur 
Shulchan  Aruch,  wherein  everything  that  he  has 
immediate  need  of  is  stated  with  an  enviable  precision. 
He  does  not  arrogate  authority  to  himself  to  legislate; 
whilst  those  who  are  aspiring  to  authority  for  change 
and  selection,  if  they  mean  it  well  with  Judaism, 
should  know  where  its  vital  points  are,  and  what 
they  may  touch  with  impunity  and  what  would  mean 
suicide,  and  this  knowledge  can  only  be  got  from 
Jewish  history  and  literature.  The  frequent  appeals 
to  "prophetic  Judaism"  are  largely  verbiage;  you 
cannot  live  on  oxygen  alone. 

Perhaps  you  will  allow  me  to  conclude  with  a 
passage  from  the  Zohar  which  I  have  often  used 
before,  and  possibly  many  others  before  me,  but  it 
bears  repetition.  The  story  runs  that  a  certain  Rabbi 


EMANCIPATION  OF  JEWISH  SCIENCE  7 

once  sailed  in  a  ship.  When  the  ship  came  upon  the 
high  seas,  a  storm  arose  and  wrecked  the  vessel. 
Down  it  went;  but  the  Rabbi  was  a  saint,  and, 
of  course,  a  miracle  happened.  The  vessel  came  out 
at  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  and  he  found  men 
engaged  in  prayer;  but  he  did  not  understand  them. 
It  is  supposed  by  the  commentaries,  which  are  still 
to  be  written,  that  the  cause  of  his  inability  to  under- 
stand them  was  that  they  did  not  pray  in  Hebrew. 
But  even  worse  would  it  be  if  the  religious  literature 
of  the  Jews  should  not  be  accessible  to  all  the  Jews. 
And  here  in  New  York,  where  the  West  and  the 
East  meet  in  such  close  proximity,  it  is  especially 
necessary  if  we  are  all  to  remain  brothers  on  earth, 
as  we  hope  to  be  in  heaven,  that  our  religious  litera- 
ture should  be  based  on  and  developed  from  that 
Sacred  Book  and  Sacred  Language  which  have  al- 
ways been  the  means  of  communion  between  Israel 
and  Israel,  and  between  Israel  and  his  God. 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY.* 

AMONG  the  regulations  relating  to  the  benedic- 
tions which  the  Jew  is  bound  to  utter  on  various 
occasions  there  is  one  running  thus: 

DVin  csn  "(T\2  TOD  b$r\w*  '•DI^IN  nsnn 

"He  who  sees  a  multitude  of  Israelites,  says  the 
benediction,  Blessed  be  He  who  is  the  sage  of  all  these 
mysteries."  So  far  the  Rabbis.  By  mysteries  they  do 
not  mean  those  closet  skeletons  of  which  the  author 
of  "Vanity  Fair"  knew  so  much,  and  of  which  respect- 
ability, sometimes  even  decency,  demands  that  they 
should  remain  hidden  away  in  some  dark  recess. 
Judaism  is  not  a  religion  that  spies  upon  personal 
secrets;  and  least  of  all  would  they  be  distinguished 
by  a  blessing,  the  great  rule  being: 

r6p^>pn  by  p-oo  pw 

"Decay  and  decadence  are  not  the  special  themes 
of  thanksgiving."  What  the  Rabbis  meant  here  by 
"mysteries"  was  that  diversity  in  feeling  and  varia- 
tion in  thinking  which  confer  individuality  and 
character  upon  each  member  of  the  species,  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  crowd  our  planet  with  as  many  micro- 
cosms as  there  are  men  and  women,  each  governed 
by  its  own  laws  and  moving  round  its  own  sun.  It 
is  this  individualism  which  practically  makes  each 
man  a  profound  and  complete  mystery  to  the  other, 
and  it  was  this  mystery  of  individualism,  or,  as  the 
* Inaugural  Address,  delivered  November  20,  1902. 


10  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Rabbis  phrase  it,  "the  unending  variations  of  mind 
and  the  difference  of  facial  expression"  registering 
our  emotions,  that  called  forth  the  admiration  of 
the  Rabbis  and  caused  the  institution  of  the  blessing. 

But  nowhere  is  the  force  of  this  mystery  more 
deeply  felt  than  in  addressing  an  audience  recruited 
from  the  Jewish  community  of  this  great  city  of 
New  York.  Like  the  first  man  (Adam)  in  the  fable, 
whose  clay  (constituting  his  body)  was  gathered  from 
the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  this  community  is  made 
up  of  the  elements  drawn  from  all  parts  of  our  globe. 
But  while  the  miscellaneous  factor  in  the  creation  of 
the  race  aimed,  as  it  was  fully  explained,  at  making 
man  a  citizen  of  the  world,  the  same  process  has  had 
the  very  opposite  effect  with  our  community.  Each 
train  of  arriving  immigrants  has  brought  its  own 
idiosyncrasies  and  peculiarities,  its  own  ritual  and 
ceremonies,  and  its  own  dogmas  and  dogmatisms,  all 
of  which  are  struggling  for  existence  and  perpetuation, 
thus  converting  the  New  World  into  a  multitude  of 
petty  Old  Worlds.  My  stay  in  this  country  is  not  of 
sufficiently  long  duration  to  justify  any  authoritative 
statement  on  my  part,  but  even  so  far  as  my  short 
experience  goes  I  can  safely  say  that  New  York  alone 
could  furnish  us  with  an  epitome  of  all  the  Judaisms 
or  Richtungen  scattered  all  over  the  world,  ranging 
from  the  precisionism  and  mysticism  of  the  Far  East 
to  the  advanced  radicalism  of  the  Far  West,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  shadowy  no-Judaisms  hovering  on  the 
borderland. 

Such  a  community  is  indeed  a  mystery.  And  this 
mystery  has  become  perplexing;  for  it  is  amidst  all 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  11 

these  Judaisms  and  no- Judaisms  that  my  colleagues 
and  myself  are  called  to  create  a  theological  centre 
which  should  be  all  things  to  all  men,  reconciling  all 
parties,  and  appealing  to  all  sections  of  the  community. 
If  I  understand  correctly  the  intention  of  those  who 
honored  me  with  their  call,  and  if  I  interpret  my 
own  feelings  aright,  this  school  should  never  become 
partisan  ground  or  a  hotbed  of  polemics,  making 
"confusion  worse  confounded."  The  name  of  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  is  Peace,  and  the  place 
erected  to  His  name,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  His 
Torah,  should,  to  use  the  figurative  language  of  the 
Rabbis,  be  the  spot  on  the  horizon  "where  heaven 
and  earth  kiss  each  other;"  while  those,  who  study 
there  should  in  some  way  participate  in,  and,  as  it 
were,  anticipate  the  mission  of  Elijah,  that  was  to 
consist  not  only  in  solving  the  difficulties  of  the 
Torah,  and  removing  doubt,  but  also  in  bringing 
back  the  forcibly  estranged,  arbitrating  between 
conflicting  opinions,  and  giving  peace  to  the  world. 

Divine,  however,  as  the  work  may  be — and  it 
could  certainly  not  be  accomplished  without  sup- 
port from  heaven — it  is  not  entirely  superhuman,  for 
the  creation  of  which  I  have  just  spoken  is  not  a 
Creatio  ex  nihilo.  The  foundations  are  laid  and  the 
materials  are  given. 

I  am  thinking,  in  the  first  instance,  of  the  sainted 
Doctor  Sabato  Morais,  the  finest  specimen  of  a 
Jewish  martyr — that  is,  one  who  lived,  not  only 
died,  as  a  martyr — whose  very  appearance  was  an 
inspiration,  and  whose  simplest  utterance  was  a 


12  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

stimulus  to  faith  in  God  and  His  Torah.  His  name 
will  always  be  remembered  for  good  as  the  founder 
of  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary.  For  this  insti- 
tution he  lived  and  labored  the  last  eleven  years  of 
his  life,  during  which  he  acted  as  President  of  the 
Faculty,  in  which  his  spirit  will  always  remain  an 
active  and  living  force;  the  Reverend  Doctor  Alex- 
ander Kohut,  the  great  Jewish  scholar  and  author 
of  the  monumental  work  Aruch  Completum,  the 
greatest  and  finest  specimen  of  Hebrew  learning 
ever  produced  by  any  Jew  on  this  continent,  who 
acted  for  the  last  years  of  his  life  as  Professor  of 
Midrash  and  Talmudic  Methodology,  and  even 
when  death  was  already  overshadowing  him  spared 
himself  not,  and  imparted  instruction  to  the  students 
of  the  Seminary.  I  am  further  thinking  of  the 
Directors  of  this  institution.  The  modesty  of  these 
Princes  in  Israel,  which  shrinks  back  from  all  pub- 
licity and  adheres  conscientiously  to  the  great  maxim 
that  virtue  is  and  must  remain  its  own  reward, 
forbids  me  to  be  explicit.  But  we  may  mention  here 
the  names  of  those  departed:  Mr.  Joseph  Blumen- 
thal,  the  President  of  the  old  Board  of  Trustees,  to 
whose  signal  devotion  this  institution  owes  to  a 
considerable  extent  its  continued  existence;  Mr. 
Leonard  Lewisohn,  a  devoted  Jew,  one  of  our  greatest 
philanthropists,  whose  benevolence  extended  to  two 
hemispheres,  and  who  was  one  of  the  first  founders 
of  the  reconstructed  Seminary;  Doctor  Aaron  Frie- 
denwald,  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman,  who  held  the 
office  of  Director,  both  in  the  old  and  in  the  newly 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  13 

constituted  Board,  and  whose  interest  in  the  insti- 
tution only  ceased  with  life  itself.  With  the  Son  of 
Sirach  we  should  say: 

"For  a  truth  these  were  godly  men, 
And  their  hope  shall  not  perish; 
With  their  seed  goodness  remains  sure, 
And  their  inheritance  unto  children's  children; 
Their  memory  standeth  forth  forever 
And  their  righteousness  shall  not  be  forgotten." 

With  such  models  of  energy  and  conviction,  of 
activity  and  saintliness,  the  Seminary  should  not  be 
at  a  loss  to  continue  the  work  which  these  great 
souls  have  prepared  and  ripened. 

It  should,  however,  be  pointed  out  that  the 
directors  of  the  reconstructed  Seminary  have  also 
given  us  some  excellent  hints  as  to  the  nature  and 
character  of  the  work  before  us.  Their  words  are: 

"The  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America  was 
incorporated  by  a  law  of  the  State  of  New  York,  ap- 
proved February  20,  1902,  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
tenets  of  the  Jewish  religion,  the  cultivation  of  Hebrew 
literature,  the  pursuit  of  Biblical  and  archaeological 
research,  the  advancement  of  Jewish  scholarship,  the 
establishment  of  a  library  and  for  the  education  and 
training  of  Jewish  rabbis  and  teachers." 

These  words  are  taken  from  the  Charter,  forming 
the  constitution  of  the  Seminary,  but,  like  all  consti- 
tutions, this  also  may  profitably  be  submitted  to  the 
process  of  interpretation  and  expansion.  This 
method  we  call  Midrash.  To  this  Midrash  the  rest 
of  my  address  will  be  largely  devoted. 

Put  into  somewhat  less  technical,  or  rather  less 
legal  terms,  the  ideals  at  which  the  Directors  of  this 


14  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

institution  aim  are  the  promotion  of  Jewish  learning 
and  the  training  for  the  Jewish  ministry.  By  learn- 
ing or  scholarship  we  understand  a  thorough  and 
accurate  knowledge  of  Jewish  literature,  or  at  least 
of  parts  of  it.  The  duty  of  accuracy,  even  in  the  most 
minute  details  of  a  subject,  cannot  be  shirked. 
"Through  my  intercourse  with  great  men,"  says 
Humboldt  in  his  Cosmos,  "I  early  arrived  at  the  con- 
viction that  without  a  serious  attention  to  details 
all  generalizations  and  theories  of  the  universe  are 
mere  phantasms."  I  know  that  the  acquiring  of 
details  is  a  very  tiresome  and  wearisome  affair,  and 
may  well  be  described  in  the  language  of  the  old 
Rabbis:  "The  part  of  wisdom  learned  under  wrath." 
But,  unfortunately,  there  is  no  "snapshot"  process 
for  acquiring  learning.  It  has  its  methods  and  laws, 
as  ancient  as  time  itself,  and  these  none  can  evade  or 
escape.  "If  a  man  will  tell  thee,"  the  old  saying  was, 
"I  have  found  Wisdom,  but  labored  not  (for  it), 
believe  him  not."  The  probability  is  that  he  found 
nothing  worth  having. 

It  is  true  that  occasionally  we  speak  of  a  "Re- 
public of  Letters,"  a  term  which  may  be  interpreted 
to  imply  that  a  certain  freedom  of  treatment  is 
granted  to  genius.  Apart,  however,  from  the  fact 
that  we  are  not  all  Shakespeares  or  Goethes,  or  even 
Walt  Whitmans,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
Republicanism  does  not  mean  anarchy.  Bad  gram- 
mar, faulty  construction,  wrong  quotations  and  mis- 
translations mean  with  the  student  in  the  domain 
of  literature  what  lawlessness  and  anarchy  mean  to 
the  citizen  in  common  life.  And  much  as  we  may 
differ  as  to  the  eccentricities  of  a  Walt  Whitman, 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  15 

I  am  sure  that  we  will  all  agree  that  ignorance  of 
the  language  of  the  sacred  literature  of  Israel  in 
persons  undertaking  to  teach  Judaism  has  by  no 
means  any  claim  upon  our  forbearance  as  the  vagary 
of  genius,  and  has  to  be  opposed  as  objectionable 
and  pernicious. 

Not  less  objectionable  than  actual  ignorance  is 
artificial  ignorance.  By  this  I  understand  that 
peculiar  attitude  of  mind  which,  cognizant  of  the 
fact  that  there  were  such  things  as  the  eighteenth 
century  and  nineteenth  century,  with  their  various 
movements  and  revolutions  in  all  departments  of 
human  thought,  somehow  manages  to  reduce  them 
to  a  blank,  as  if  they  had  not  been.  My  friends,  they 
have  been!  There  has  been  such  a  thing  as  a  ration- 
alistic school,  though  not  all  its  members  have  been 
rational.  There  has  been  such  a  thing  as  a  critical 
school,  though  not  all  its  adherents  have  been  real 
critics.  Arianism  of  the  vulgar  sort,  and  Marcion- 
ism  of  the  nineteenth  century  type,  have  had  their 
share  in  this  work.  There  has  been  such  a  thing  as 
an  historical  school,  although  not  all  those  who  were 
of  it  interpreted  history  in  the  right  way.  All  these 
movements  are  solemn  facts,  and  they  can  as  little 
be  argued  away  by  mere  silence  as  pain  and  suffering 
can  be  removed  from  the  world  by  the  methods  of 
Christian  Science. 

Mark,  too,  that  there  is  no  intellectual  wave  that 
breaks  upon  our  mental  horizon,  which,  disastrous  as 
it  may  appear  to  us,  will  not  have  some  beneficial 
effect  in  the  end.  It  may  wreak  desolation  when  it 
comes;  it  may  leave  the  beach  strewn  with  loathsome 
monsters  when  it  recedes,  but  at  the  same  time  it  will 


16  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

deposit  a  residuum  of  fresh  matter,  often  fruitful 
and  fructifying.  To  give  one  instance  from  our  own 
history,  I  will  only  recall  to  your  minds  the  Karaitic 
Schism.  Vile  and  violent  were  its  attacks  upon  the 
tradition  of  the  Fathers,  and  the  breach  is  not  healed 
to  this  very  day,  but  it  had  also  the  blessed  effect  of 
giving  a  wholesome  impetus  to  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
which  resulted  in  producing  a  school  of  Grammarians 
and  Exegetes,  and  perhaps  also  of  Massorites,  such 
as  Judaism  had  never  seen  before. 

Thus  these  movements  may  all  contain  grains  and 
germs  of  truth,  or  at  least  may  provide  the  nidus  for 
the  further  development  of  truth,  and  with  all  this  the 
student  must  be  made  acquainted.  What  they  have 
to  offer  may  not  always  be  pleasant  to  hear,  but  this 
must  be  accepted  as  a  judgment  of  God,  passed  upon 
us  for  allowing  our  inheritance — especially  the  Bible 
— to  be  turned  over  to  strangers.  At  the  same  time 
the  follies  and  extravagances,  occasionally  also  the 
ineffable  ignorance  displayed  by  some  of  the  leaders 
of  these  movements  should  also  be  exposed,  for  the 
demand  they  make  for  blind  faith  in  the  hypotheses 
they  advance  is  even  more  exacting  than  that  made 
by  the  old  orthodoxies,  and  young  men  should  be 
warned  against  their  pretensions.  "Even  the  youngest 
amongst  us  may  sometimes  err,"  was  the  answer  of  a 
master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  to  a  forward 
youth,  and  similarly  I  venture  to  express  the  pos- 
sibility that  even  the  "newest"  among  us  may  some- 
times go  wrong. 

The  crown  and  climax  of  all  learning  is  research. 
The  object  of  this  searching  is  truth — that  truth 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  17 

which  gives  unity  to  history  and  harmony  to  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  and  brings  order  into  a  universe 
in  which  the  naked  eye  perceives  only  strife  and  chance. 
But  while  in  search  of  this  truth,  of  which  man  is 
hardly  permitted  more  than  a  faint  glimpse,  the 
student  not  only  re-examines  the  old  sources,  but  is 
on  the  constant  lookout  for  fresh  material  and  new 
fields  of  exploration.  These  enable  him  to  supply 
a  link  here  and  to  fill  out  a  gap  there,  thus  contrib- 
uting his  humble  share  to  the  sum  total  of  truth, 
which  by  the  grace  of  God,  is  in  a  process  of  con- 
stant self -revelation. 

I  may,  perhaps,  point  out  in  passing,  as  I  did  on 
a  somewhat  similar  occasion,  "that  this  passionate 
devotion  to  the  study  of  ancient  MSS.,  which  you 
may  possibly  have  observed  in  some  students,  has 
not  its  source  in  mere  antiquarianism  or  love  of 
curios.  The  famous  R.  Nissim  Gaon,  the  correspond- 
ent of  R.  Sherira  and  R.  Hai  Gaon,  the  author  of  the 
Maf teach,  says,  in  the  introduction  to  his  work: 
"And  I  entreat  everybody  who  will  profit  by  the 
study  of  this  book  to  pray  to  God  for  me  and  to 
cause  me  to  find  mercy  whether  I  am  alive  or  dead." 
Nowadays  we  are  not  always  in  a  praying  mood. 
With  Hegel,  some  of  us  believe  that  thinking  is  also 
praying.  But  the  sensation  we  experience  in  our 
work  is  not  unlike  that  which  should  accompany  our 
devotions.  Every  discovery  of  an  ancient  document 
giving  evidence  of  a  bygone  world  is,  if  undertaken  in 
the  right  spirit — that  is,  for  the  honor  of  God  and 
the  truth  and  not  for  the  glory  of  self — an  act  of 
resurrection  in  miniature.  How  the  past  suddenly 


18  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

rushes  in  upon  you  with  all  its  joys  and  woes!  And 
there  is  a  spark  of  a  human  soul  like  yours  come  to 
light  again  after  a  disappearance  of  centuries,  crying 
for  sympathy  and  mercy,  even  as  R.  Nissim  did. 
You  dare  not  neglect  the  appeal  and  slay  this  soul 
again.  Unless  you  choose  to  become  another  Cain 
you  must  be  the  keeper  of  your  brother  and  give 
him  a  fair  hearing.  You  pray  with  him  if  he  hap- 
pens to  be  a  liturgist;  you  grieve  with  him  if  the 
impress  left  by  him  in  your  mind  is  that  of  suffer- 
ing; you  fight  for  him  if  his  voice  is  that  of  ardent 
partisanship,  and  you  even  doubt  with  him  if  the 
garb  in  which  he  makes  his  appearance  is  that  of 
an  honest  skeptic — "Souls  can  only  be  kissed  through 
the  medium  of  sympathy." 

But  it  is  with  truth  as  it  is  with  other  ideals  and 
sacred  possessions  of  man.  "Every  generation,"  the 
ancient  Rabbis  say,  "which  did  not  live  to  see  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Holy  Temple  must  consider  itself 
as  if  it  had  witnessed  its  destruction."  Similarly  we 
may  say  that  every  age  which  has  not  made  some 
essential  contribution  to  the  erection  of  the  Temple 
of  Truth  and  real  Wissenschaft  is  bound  to  look  upon 
itself  as  if  it  had  been  instrumental  in  its  demolition. 
For  it  is  these  fresh  contributions  and  the  opening  of 
new  sources,  with  the  new  currents  they  create,  that 
keep  the  intellectual  and  the  spiritual  atmosphere  in 
motion  and  impart  to  it  life  and  vigor.  But  when, 
through  mental  inertia  and  moral  sloth,  these  fresh 
sources  are  allowed  to  dry,  stagnation  and  decay  are 
sure  to  set  in.  The  same  things  happen  which  came' 
to  pass  when  Israel's  sanctuary  was  consumed  in  fire. 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  19 

Said  R.  Phineas  ben  Yair:  "Since  the  day  on  which 
the  Holy  Temple  was  destroyed,  the  socii,  Q^~cn 
sons  of  freedom,  lie  under  the  cloud  of  shame,  and 
their  heads  are  covered  (in  mourning) ;  men  of  (real) 
deeds  are  neglected,  while  the  'men  of  elbow'  and  the 
'masters  of  the  tongue'  gain  strength." 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  the  Seminary  as  a  place 
of  learning.  We  must  now  proceed  to  consider  it  in 
its  particular  aspect  as  a  training  school  for  the  Jewish 
ministry.  Now,  we  all  agree  that  the  office  of  a  Jew- 
ish minister  is  to  teach  Judaism;  he  should  accordingly 
receive  such  a  training  as  to  enable  him  to  say: 
"Judaeici  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto"  "I  regard  nothing 
Jewish  as  foreign  to  me."  He  should  know  every- 
thing Jewish — Bible,  Talmud,  Midrash,  Liturgy, 
Jewish  ethics  and  Jewish  philosophy;  Jewish  history 
and  Jewish  mysticism,  and  even  Jewish  folklore. 
None  of  these  subjects,  with  its  various  ramifica- 
tions, should  be  entirely  strange  to  him. 

Remember,  my  friends,  that  there  is  no  waste  in 
the  world  of  thought.  Every  good  action,  the  mystics 
say,  creates  an  angel;  and  every  real  thought/it  may 
be  said,  creates  even  something  better;  it  creates 
men  and  women.  In  spite  of  all  our  "modernity," 
most  of  our  sentiments  are  "nothing  else  but  organized 
traditions;  our  thoughts  nothing  else  but  reminis- 
censes,  conscious  and  unconscious,"  while  in  our 
actions  we  are  largely  executive  officers,  carrying 
out  the  ordinances  passed  by  a  wise  legislation  of 
many  years  ago.  We  dare  not  neglect  any  part  of 
this  great  intellectual  bequest  but  at  a  serious 
risk  and  peril  to  ourselves.  And  the  risk  is  the  greater 


20  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

in  Jewish  literature — a  literature  pregnant  with 
"thoughts  that  breathe  and  words  that  burn," 
whose  very  pseudography  became  the  sacred  books 
of  other  nations,  whose  most  homely  metaphors 
were  converted  from  literature  into  dogma.  Nay,  the 
very  misunderstanding  and  misinterpretation  of  its 
terminology  have  given  rise  to  a  multitude  of  sects 
and  orthodoxies  and  heresies  still  dividing  humanity. 

It  is  with  the  purpose  of  avoiding  this  risk  that 
we — my  colleagues  and  I — tried  to  draw  up  the 
curriculum  of  studies  for  the  classes,  in  such  a  way 
as  to  include  in  it  almost  every  branch  of  Jewish 
literature.  We  cannot,  naturally,  hope  to  carry  the 
student  through  all  these  vast  fields  of  learning  at 
the  cultivation  of  which  humanity  has  now  worked 
for  nearly  four  thousand  years.  But  this  fact  must 
not  prevent  us  from  making  the  attempt  to  bring 
the  students  on  terms  of  acquaintance  at  least  with 
all  those  manifestations  of  Jewish  life  and  Jewish 
thought  which  may  prove  useful  to  them  as  future 
ministers,  and  suggestive  and  stimulating  to  them 
as  prospective  scholars. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the  Jewish 
ministry  and  Jewish  scholarship  are  not  irreconcil- 
able. The  usefulness  of  a  minister  does  not  increase 
in  an  inverse  ratio  to  his  knowledge — as  little  as  bad 
grammar  is  specially  conducive  to  morality  and 
holiness.  Zunz's  motto  was,  "Real  knowledge  creates 
action"  (thatenerzeugen d) ,  and  the  existence  of  such 
men  as  R.  Saadya  Gaon  and  R.  Hai  Gaon,  Maimon- 
ides,  and  Nachmanides,  R.  Joseph  Caro  and  R.  Isaac 
Abarbanel,  Samson  Raphael  Hirsch  and  Abraham 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  21 

Geiger,  and  an  innumerable  host  of  other  spiritual 
kings  in  Israel,  all  ' 'mighty  in  the  battles  of  the 
Torah,"  and  voluminous  authors,  and  at  the  same 
time  living  among  their  people  and  for  their  people 
and  influencing  contemporaries,  and  still  at  this  very 
moment  swaying  the  actions  and  opinions  of  men — 
all  these  bear  ample  testimony  to  the  truth  of  Zunz's 
maxim.  No,  ignorance  is  not  such  bliss  as  to  make 
special  efforts  necessary  to  acquire  it.  There  is  no 
cause  to  be  afraid  of  much  learning,  or,  rather,  of 
much  teaching.  The  difficulty  under  which  we 
labor  is  rather  that  there  are  subjects  which  cannot 
be  taught,  and  yet  do  form  an  essential  part  of  the 
equipment  of  a  Jewish  minister. 

But  first  let  me  say  a  few  words  about  the  general 
religious  tendency  this  Seminary  will  follow.  I  am 
not  unaware  that  this  is  a  very  delicate  point,  and 
prudence  would  dictate  silence  or  evasion.  But  life 
would  hardly  be  worth  living  without  occasional 
blundering,  "the  only  relief  from  dull  correctness." 
Besides,  if  there  be  in  American  history  one  fact  more 
clearly  proved  than  any  other  it  is  that  "know-nothing- 
ism"  was  an  absolute  and  miserable  failure.  I  must 
not  fall  into  the  same  error.  And  thus,  sincerely 
asking  forgiveness  of  all  my  dearest  friends  and 
dearest  enemies  with  whom  it  may  be  my  misfor- 
tune to  differ,  I  declare,  in  all  humility,  but  most 
emphatically,  that  I  do  know  something.  And  this 
is  that  the  religion  in  which  the  Jewish  ministry 
should  be  trained  must  be  specifically  and  purely 
Jewish,  without  any  alloy  or  adulteration.  Judaism 
must  stand  or  fall  by  that  which  distinguishes  it 


22  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

from  other  religions  as  well  as  by  that  which  it  has 
in  common  with  them.  Judaism  is  not  a  religion 
which  does  not  oppose  itself  to  anything  in  par- 
ticular. Judaism  is  opposed  to  any  number  of  things, 
and  says  distinctly  "thou  shalt  not."  It  permeates 
the  whole  of  your  life.  It  demands  control  over  all 
your  actions,  and  interferes  even  with  your  menu. 
It  sanctifies  the  seasons,  and  regulates  your  history, 
both  in  the  past  and  in  the  future.  Above  all,  it 
teaches  that  disobedience  is  the  strength  of  sin.  It 
insists  upon  the  observance  both  of  the  spirit  and  of 
the  letter;  spirit  without  letter  belongs  to  the  species 
known  to  the  mystics  as  "nude  souls"  pS^tD^y  pfiOBtt 
wandering  about  in  the  universe  without  balance  and 
without  consistency,  the  play  of  all  possible  currents 
and  changes  in  the  atmosphere.  In  a  word,  Judaism 
is  absolutely  incompatible  with  the  abandonment  of 
the  Torah.  Nay,  the  very  prophet  or  seer  must  bring 
his  imprimatur  from  the  Torah.  The  assertion  that 
the  destruction  of  the  Law  is  its  fulfillment  is  a  mere 
paradox,  and  recalls  strongly  the  doctrines  of  Sir 
Boyle  Roche,  "the  inimitable  maker  of  Irish  bulls." 
He  declared  emphatically  that  he  "would  give  up  a 
part,  and,  if  necessary,  the  whole  of  the  constitution, 
to  preserve  the  remainder!" 

President  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  wisest  and  great- 
est of  rulers,  addressed  Congress  on  some  occasion 
of  great  emergency  with  the  words:  "Fellow  citizens, 
we  cannot  escape  history."  Nor  can  we,  my  friends. 
The  past,  with  its  long  chain  of  events,  with  its  woes 
and  joys,  with  its  tragedies  and  romances,  with  its 
customs  and  usages,  and  above  all,  with  its  bequest 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  23 

of  the  Torah,  the  great  entail  of  the  children  of 
Israel,  has  become  an  integral  and  inalienable  part 
of  ourselves,  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 
We  must  make  an  end  to  these  constant  amputa- 
tions if  we  do  not  wish  to  see  the  body  of  "Israel" 
bleed  to  death  before  our  very  eyes.  We  must  leave 
off  talking  about  Occidentalizing  our  religion — as  if 
the  Occident  has  ever  shown  the  least  genius  for 
religion — or  freeing  the  conscience  by  abolishing 
various  laws.  These,  and  similar  platitudes  and  stock 
phrases  borrowed  from  Christian  apologetics,  must 
be  abandoned  entirely  if  we  do  not  want  to  drift 
slowly  but  surely  into  Paulinism,  which  entered  the 
world  as  the  deadliest  enemy  of  Judaism,  pursued 
it  through  all  its  course  and  is  still  finding  its  abettors 
among  us,  working  for  their  own  destruction.  Lord, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  nothing.  Those  who 
are  entrusted  with  carrying  out  the  purpose  of  this 
institution,  which,  as  you  have  seen,  aims  at  the 
perpetuation  of  the  tenets  of  the  Jewish  religion, 
both  pupils  and  masters,  must  faithfully  and  man- 
fully maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  Torah.  There  is 
no  other  Jewish  religion  but  that  taught  by  the  Torah 
and  confirmed  by  history  and  tradition,  and  sunk 
into  the  conscience  of  Catholic  Israel. 

I  have  just  hinted  at  the  desirability  of  masters 
and  pupils  working  for  one  common  end.  You  must 
not  think  that  our  intention  is  to  convert  this  school 
of  learning  into  a  drill  ground  where  young  men  will 
be  forced  into  a  certain  groove  of  thinking,  or, 
rather,  not  thinking;  and  after  being  equipped  with 
a  few  devotional  texts,  and  supplied  with  certain 


24  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

catchwords,  will  be  let  loose  upon  an  unsuspecting 
public  to  proclaim  their  own  virtues  and  the  infal- 
libility of  their  masters.  Nothing  is  further  from  our 
thoughts.  I  once  heard  a  friend  of  mine  exclaim 
angrily  to  a  pupil:  "Sir,  how  dare  you  always  agree 
with  me?"  I  do  not  even  profess  to  agree  with  my- 
self always,  and  I  would  consider  my  work,  to  which, 
with  the  help  of  God,  I  am  going  to  devote  the  rest 
of  my  life,  a  complete  failure  if  this  institution  would 
not  in  the  future  produce  such  extremes  as  on  the 
one  side  a  raving  mystic  who  would  denounce  me 
as  a  sober  Philistine;  on  the  other  side,  an  advanced 
critic,  who  would  rail  at  me  as  a  narrow-minded  fa- 
natic, while  a  third  devotee  of  strict  orthodoxy  would 
raise  protest  against  any  critical  views  I  may  enter- 
tain. "We  take,"  says  Montaigne,  "other  men's 
knowledge  on  trust,  which  is  idle  and  superficial 
learning.  We  must  make  it  our  own."  The  Rabbis 
express  the  same  thought  with  allusion  to  Ps.  1 : 2 
which  they  explain  to  mean  that  what  is  first — at 
the  initiation  of  man  into  the  Law — God's  Torah, 
becomes,  after  a  sufficient  study,  man's  own  Torah. 
Nay,  God  even  deigns  to  descend  to  man's  own  level 
so  as  not  to  interfere  with  his  individuality  and 
powers  of  conception.  I  reproduce  in  paraphrase  a 
passage  from  a  Midrash:  "Behold  now  how  the  voice 
of  Sinai  goes  forth  to  all  in  Israel  attuned  to  the 
capacity  of  each;  appealing  to  the  sages  according 
to  their  wisdom;  to  the  virile  according  to  their 
strength;  to  the  young  according  to  their  aspiring 
youthfulness,  and  to  the  children  and  babes  according 
to  their  innocence;  aye,  even  to  the  women  according 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  25 

to  their  motherhood."  All  that  I  plead  for  is  that  the 
voice  should  come  from  Sinai,  not  from  Golgotha; 
that  it  should  be  the  voice  of  Jacob,  not  of  Esau.  The 
Torah  gave  spiritual  accommodation  for  thousands 
of  years  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  sages, 
philosophers,  scholars,  mystics,  casuists,  school  men 
and  skeptics;  and  it  should  also  prove  broad  enough 
to  harbor  the  different  minds  of  the  present  century. 
Any  attempt  to  place  the  centre  of  gravity  outside 
of  the  Torah  must  end  in  disaster.  We  must  not 
flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall  be  allowed  to  land  some- 
where midway,  say  in  some  Omar  Khayyam  cult  or 
in  some  Positivists'  society  or  in  some  other  agnostic 
makeshift.  No,  my  friends,  there  are  laws  of  gravita- 
tion in  the  spiritual  as  there  are  in  the  physical  world ; 
we  cannot  create  halting  places  at  will.  We  must 
either  remain  faithful  to  history  or  go  the  way  of  all 
flesh,  and  join  the  great  majority.  The  teaching  in 
the  Seminary  will  be  in  keeping  with  this  spirit,  and 
thus  largely  confined  to  the  exposition  and  elucidation 
of  historical  Judaism  in  its  various  manifestations. 
But,  as  I  have  hinted  before,  not  everything  can 
be  taught.  I  am  referring  to  those  things  undefin- 
able,  which  may  be  best  described  by  using  the 
Talmudic  phrase  "things  handed  over  to  the  heart," 
which  cannot  be  imparted  by  word  of  mouth,  or  by 
any  visible  sign.  Take,  for  instance,  the  Fifty-first 
Psalm,  commencing  "Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God!" 
We  have  the  means  of  teaching  how  to  parse  the 
Hebrew  and  how  to  render  it  into  fair  English,  but 
we  are  utterly  helpless  should  we  attempt  to  convey 
any  idea  of  the  agony  and  anguish  which  wrung  from 


26  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  Psalmist  this  cry — of  the  misery  and  bitterness 
which  he  felt  at  the  thought  that  transgression  and 
sin  may  lead  to  his  being  cast  away  from  the  presence 
of  God,  and  to  the  loss  of  His  Holy  spirit;  and  of  the 
sudden  exaltation  and  gladness  he  experienced  in 
anticipating  the  time  when  a  broken  heart  and  a 
contrite  spirit  would  bring  back  to  him  the  lost  joy 
of  salvation  and  restore  the  interrupted  communion 
between  the  repentant  son  and  his  Father  in  heaven. 
Or  take  the  concluding  lines  of  the  Malchiyoth  bene- 
diction on  New  Year's  Day  that  read:  "Our  God 
and  God  of  our  fathers,  reign  Thou  in  Thy  glory 
over  the  whole  universe  and  be  exalted  above  all  the 
earth  in  Thine  honor,  and  shine  forth  in  the  splendor 
and  excellence  of  Thy  might  upon  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Thy  world."  We  can  easily  lecture  on  the  history 
of  this  prayer,  and  even  make  a  guess  as  to  its  date 
and  authorship,  but  we  should  certainly  fail  were 
we  to  try  to  make  one  understand  what  the  King- 
dom of  God  on  earth  really  meant  for  the  saints  of 
Israel,  whose  whole  life  was  nothing  else  than  a  prepa- 
ration for  entering  into  the  Kingdom.  Wooden  theo- 
logians speak  of  a  theocracy  as  a  sort  of  Jewish 
hierarchy  after  the  Roman  model,  only  with  a  Rabbi 
Maximus  as  its  head.  This  was  not  the  ideal  for 
which  so  many  noble  men  and  women  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom and  which  inspired  the  great  "Unknown"  to 
his  divine  poem,  "["D^  bl  Vr\W(  the  Jewish  "Mar- 
seillaise." It  was  the  blissful  vision  of  love  triumphant, 
righteousness  triumphant,  truth  triumphant,  which 
animated  and  dictated  these  lines.  But  here  I  am 
explaining  dark  riddles  by  obscure  terms.  Or  lastly, 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  27 

take  the  first  lines  of  R.  Jehuda  Ha-Levi's  poem  on 
the  advent  of  the  Sabbath,  running  thus:  'To  Thy 
love  I  drink  my  cup."  The  Sabbath  was  for  him  a 
reality  in  which  Israel's  sweet  singer  saw  a  reflex  of 
the  great  Sabbath  when  the  Kingdom  of  God  would 
be  established.  But  how  one  can  fall  in  love  with 
such  an  abstract  idea  as  a  span  of  time  can  only  be 
divined  by  love  itself.  In  the  famous  Praise  of  Wis- 
dom, Sophia  or  the  Torah  proclaims:  "I  am  the 
mother  of  fair  love  and  fear  and  knowledge  and  holy 
hope."  But  it  is  only  filial  devotion  which  will  elicit 
a  mother's  answer  and  touch  the  mystic  chord  of 
things  undefinable,  only  transmissible  through  the 
means  of  an  appeal  from  soul  to  soul.  But  suppose 
a  person  has  no  soul,  or,  what  comes  to  the  same 
thing,  persuades  himself  he  has  none?  "Saving  souls" 
is  a  favorite  phrase  with  theologians.  The  soul 
being,  according  to  Jewish  mystics — long  before 
Emerson — a  spark  of  the  divine  essence  itself,  I 
never  believed  it  to  be  in  much  need  of  artificial  aids 
to  salvation.  The  "Spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who 
gave  it,"  even  against  the  will  of  theologians  if  need 
be.  Our  real  difficulty  is  how  to  help  the  men  with- 
out souls! 

Another  problem  presenting  itself  is  how  we  are 
to  teach  the  subject  or  thing  called  Life.  I  hardly 
need  say  that  by  Life  I  do  not  understand  skill  in 
arranging  socials  and  other  attractions,  or  ingenuity 
in  inventing  sensational  sermon  headings.  This  is 
not  Life.  Everything  tending  to  what  is  common  or 
sensational  must  needs  starve  our  better  selves  and 
ultimately  result  in  spiritual  death.  What  I  mean  by 


28  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

this  term  is  the  capacity  for  dealing  with  those  oc- 
casions in  our  earthly  career,  which,  by  reason  of 
intense  joys  or  overwhelming  sorrow  or  the  tender 
sympathy  which  they  evoke,  crowd  years  into  mo- 
ments, and  form,  so  to  speak,  portions  of  life  in  con- 
densation. These  occasions  have  always  been  con- 
trolled and  assisted  by  religion.  Of  certain  of  these 
the  Catholic  Church  has  made  sacraments,  as  in  the 
case  of  marriage  and  death,  and  it  has  also  created 
special  Orders  devoted  to  the  work  among  the  needy 
and  the  helpless.  The  Protestant  Church  has  also 
its  Settlements  and  has  introduced  into  its  seminaries 
pastoral  theology,  aiming,  among  other  things,  to 
instruct  its  clergy  in  the  works  of  love  and  charity. 
But  it  must  be  confessed  that  we  are  still  somewhat 
behind  in  this  last  respect. 

Pray  let  there  be  no  misunderstanding  about  this 
point.  The  discovery  of  the  virtue  of  charity  is  not 
quite  contemporaneous  with  the  coining  of  that 
barbaric  word  Altruism.  The  administration  of 
charity  was  one  of  the  earliest  functions  of  the 
Synagogue,  from  which  it  was  borrowed  by  the 
primitive  Church,  like  so  many  other  institutions. 
But  recognizing  no  difference  between  the  laity  and 
the  priesthood,  or  "Rabbihood,"  the  exercise  of 
this  function  was  not  limited  to  any  Order  or  special 
caste.  The  practice  of  the  work  of  loving  kindness, 
or  Gemilath  Chasadim,  a  term  including  everything 
we  understand  by  philanthropic  and  social  work, 
had,  as  you  know  from  your  prayer  book,  no  fixed 
measure,  and  all  classes  of  the  community  shared  it. 
With  regard  to  visiting  the  sick  and  ministering  to 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  29 

the  dying,  I  will  only  call  to  mind  the  oldest  Jewish 
Society,  the  WTp  Kl^n  a  kind  of  Sacred  Brother- 
hood, whose  duty  it  was  to  nurse  those  who  had 
nobody  to  attend  to  them,  to  be  present  at  the  su- 
preme moment  of  man's  existence,  and  to  read  the 
prescribed  prayers  there,  to  arrange  and  prepare 
for  the  funeral  procession  and  decent  burial,  and  to 
comfort  the  mourners  by  reciting  prayers  and  "speak- 
ing to  their  hearts."  All  these  services  were  per- 
formed voluntarily  and  gratuitously,  and  those  who 
performed  them  came  from  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, men  and  women. 

But  times  have  changed;  charity  has  become  to 
some  extent — I  hope  not  entirely — a  science,  and  a 
certain  knowledge  of  political  economy  and  sociology 
is  required  for  its  proper  administration.  It  is  there- 
fore deemed  advisable  that  the  minister,  who,  as  a 
rule,  is  connected  with  our  charitable  institutions, 
either  as  an  active  member  of  the  board  of  manage- 
ment or  as  the  spiritual  adviser  of  the  directors,  should 
receive  some  training  in  the  aforementioned  subjects, 
Again,  we  live  now  in  the  age  of  specialization.  Fu- 
nerals and  burials  have  been  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
a  fine  art,  and  praying  has  become  a  close  profession. 
The  old  Sacred  Brotherhoods  thus  had  to  disappear, 
and  their  work  mostly  devolves  now  upon  the  minis- 
ter. But  how  should  we  approach  this  part  of  our 
instruction?  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  old 
Sacred  Brotherhoods  were,  as  already  said,  volun- 
tary societies,  and  the  very  fact  of  a  man's  joining 
them  testified  to  his  fitness  to  engage  in  the  works 
of  mercy  and  loving-kindness.  But  a  man  may  show 


30  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  most  brilliant  record  of  undergraduate  days  and 
yet  be  utterly  wanting  in  tact,  delicacy,  patience, 
sympathy,  forbearance  and  similar  qualities  neces- 
sary for  the  office  of  pastor.  Sometimes  a  certain 
unwillingness  to  allow  students  to  share  in  work  of 
this  kind  is  shown  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  a 
right  to  protest.  The  Jerusalem  Talmud  records  a 
story  of  a  famous  Rabbi  of  Caesarea  who  sent  his 
son  to  Tiberias  "to  acquire  merit  there"  by  studying 
Torah  in  the  Rabbinic  Academies  of  that  city. 
But  the  youth,  instead  of  attending  to  his  lessons 
and  lectures,  became  a  "Gomel  Chesed,"  or,  as  we 
should  now  say,  devoted  himself  to  social  work. 
His  specialty  was,  it  seems,  that  of  burying  the 
dead.  Whereupon  his  father  wrote  to  him:  "Is  it 
because  there  were  no  graves  in  Caesarea  that  I 
sent  thee  to  Tiberias?"  •  This  happened  somewhere 
about  the  end  of  the  third  century,  but  in  this  respect 
times  have  not  changed  as  far  as  my  knowledge  of 
universities  and  seminaries  goes.  Parents  and 
guardians  still  object  to  their  sons  or  wards  attending: 
funerals  instead  of  lectures.  But  there  is  also  another 
grave  consideration.  The  social  work  included  under 
the  name  of  Gemilath  Chasadim  forms  in  Judaism  a 
part  of  Israel's  great  Imitatio  Dei.  The  Holy  One, 
blessed  be  He,  set  the  example  Himself  of  performing 
deeds  of  kindness  to  His  creatures,  and  it  is  incum- 
bent upon  the  whole  of  Israel,  "the  suite  of  the  King,"' 
as  the  ancients  expressed  it,  to  fashion  their  ways 
after  the  King.  And  I  consider  it  not  without  danger 
to  create  a  religious  aristocracy  which  might  soon 
claim  the  King  entirely  for  themselves,  and  crowd 
the  rest  of  us  out  from  His  Divine  Presence.  Such 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  31 

things  have  happened  in  other  communities  and 
may  also  happen  to  us  when  we  create  a  separate 
class  of  religieuses  with  a  special  purpose  of  assisting 
us  in  the  most  sacred,  but  also  the  most  sensitive 
and  weakest,  moments  of  our  being. 

George  Eliot,  in  a  letter  to  a  spiritual  correspond- 
ent, says:  'The  great  thing  is  to  do  without  chloro- 
form." Judaism  not  only  did  without  chloroform, 
but,  retaining  its  freshness  and  vigor,  it  also  did  with- 
out crutches,  and  found  its  way  to  heaven  without 
any  aid  from  man:  it  never  employed  spiritual 
derricks.  If  a  Jew  wanted  to  pray,  he  prayed.  If 
he  felt  anxiety  about  his  soul,  he  said:  "Into  Thy 
hands  I  commit  my  spirit;  Thou  hast  redeemed  me, 
O  Lord,  God  of  Truth."  If  he  felt  the  need  of  re- 
ligious comfort,  he  read  a  Psalm  or  two  and  had  a 
good  cry  over  that,  and  he  received  assurance;  and 
if  he  was  in  the  home  of  a  dying  friend  he  read : 
"Hear,  O  Israel!"  f?*Ctr  >'EtT  and  a  few  other  vers- 
es acknowledging  the  unity  of  God  and  His  reign, 
and  he  felt  sure  that  both  he  and  his  departed  friend 
would  have  their  share  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Now,  on  account  of  the  frequent  amputations,  we 
have  lost  our  vigor  and  have  suddenly  grown  old  and 
seem  to  be  in  need  of  artificial  support,  like  other 
denominations.  The  support  has  to  be  created. 
The  circumstances  require  it.  But,  as  I  have  said, 
the  experiment  is  risky,  and  we  can  only  pray  with 
the  Psalmist  that  God  lead  us  in  the  path  of  right- 
eousness for  His  name's  sake. 

However,  I  will  not  dwell  any  longer  on  our  trou- 
bles and  difficulties.  Be  they  ever  so  many,  and  ever 
so  serious,  the  old  dictum  of  the  Rabbi  still  holds 


32  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

good:  "It  is  not  incumbent  upon  thee  to  finish  the 
work,  neither  art  thou  free  to  desist  from  it,"  and 
least  of  all  dare  we  desist  from  our  work;  we  whom 
Providence  has  transplanted  into  this  great  and 
glorious  country,  and  each  of  whom  may  verily  say 
with  Joseph,  "God  did  send  me  before  you  to  pre- 
serve life." 

My  friends,  in  a  letter  by  Maimonides,  addressed 
to  the  Wise  Men  of  Lunel,  there  occurs  a  passage  to 
the  following  effect:  "Be  it  known  unto  you,  my 
masters  and  friends,  that  in  these  hard  times  none 
are  left  to  lift  up  the  standard  of  Moses  and  inquire 
into  the  world  of  the  Rabbis  but  you.  I  am  certain 
that  you  and  the  cities  near  you  are  continually  estab- 
lishing places  of  learning  and  that  you  are  men  of 
wisdom  and  understanding.  From  all  other  places 
the  Torah  has  utterly  disappeared.  The  majority 
of  the  great  countries  are  (spiritually)  dead.  The 
minority  is  in  extremis,  while  three  or  four  places  are 
in  a  state  of  convalescence.  *  *  *  It  is  also 
known  unto  you  what  persecutions  have  been  de- 
creed against  the  Jewish  population  of  the  West  (of 
Europe).  There  is  no  help  left  to  us  but  in  you, 
our  brethren,  even  the  men  of  our  kindred.  Be  of 
good  courage,  and  let  us  behave  ourselves  valiantly, 
for  our  people  and  for  the  cities  of  God,  since  you  are 
manly  men  and  men  of  power." 

This  letter  was  written  by  Maimonides  some  seven 
hundred  years  ago.  But  how  little  times  have 
changed.  Substitute  the  words  East  or  Northeast 
for  West,  and  you  have  the  tragedy  repeated  before 
your  very  eyes.  It  is  now  the  East — from  our  part 
of  the  globe — which  is  old  and  ill,  where  persecution 


THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  SEMINARY  33 

has  been  decreed,  and  which,  if  not  actually  dead, 
is  very  nearly  in  extremis]  while  it  is  the  West  that  is 
throbbing  with  life  and  healthy  activity,  which  is 
full  of  men  of  understanding  and  wisdom,  of  power 
and  of  influence.  To  these  I  venture  to  repeat  the 
words  of  Scripture  in  the  sense  in  which  they  were 
used  by  Maimonides:  "Be  of  good  courage  and  let 
us  behave  ourselves  valiantly,  for  ourselves,  and  for 
the  cities  of  our  God."  Perhaps  I  may  also  repeat 
here  another  sentence  of  Maimonides:  "Think  not 
of  thyself  slightly,  and  do  not  despair  of  perfection." 
Whether  we  shall  reach  perfection  in  this  or  any  other 
task  relating  to  Judaism  which  the  great  men  of 
Israel  of  this  country  have  set  before  themselves, 
only  the  future  can  decide.  But  there  is  no  reason 
for  despairing;  and  the  possibility  of  failure  must 
in  no  way  deter  us. 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  Talmud:  "It  is  not  a 
great  honor  for  the  princess  when  her  praise  comes 
from  her  friend;  it  should  come  from  her  rival." 
Ernest  Renan,  who  never  quite  laid  aside  his  St. 
Sulpice  frock,  and  was  never  entirely  free  from  Aryan 
prejudices,  was  certainly  a  rival,  but  he  was  a  man 
of  genius,  and  in  spite  of  himself  could  not  help 
occasionally  saying  true  things;  and  his  words  are: 
"There  will  continue  to  be  in  Israel  profound  dream- 
ers to  assert  that  the  work  of  God  will  never  be 
complete  until  His  true  saints  shall  reign  therein  (in 
the  world).  At  the  root  of  the  lofty  morality  of  this 
people  is  a  longing  that  is  never  satisfied.  The  true 
Israelite  is  he  who,  in  his  discontent,  thirsts  always 
for  the  future,  and  the  race  is  not  yet  ready  to  fail." 
By  the  help  of  God  we  shall  not  fail. 


HIGHER  CRITICISM— HIGHER  ANTI- 
SEMITISM.* 

MY  ACQUAINTANCE  with  Dr.  Kohler  dates 
from  the  year  1901,  when  he  did  me  the  honor 
of  paying  me  a  visit  at  Cambridge,  England.  There 
is  no  scarcity  in  that  ancient  seat  of  learning,  "full 
of  sages  and  scribes,"  of  learned  conversation.  But 
the  day  with  Dr.  Kohler  was  one  of  the  most  delightful 
I  have  ever  experienced  in  that  place.  The  day  was 
spent  in  roaming  over  the  contents  of  the  Genizah  and 
in  conversation.  Our  thoughts  were  turned  to  Judaism 
and  the  subjects  which  occupied  our  minds  were  all 
of  a  theological  or  historical  nature.  We  probably 
differed  in  a  good  many  points,  and  please  God  we 
shall  differ  in  many  more — but  this  did  not  prevent 
our  short  acquaintance  from  ripening  at  once  into 
what  might  approach  friendship.  I  felt  that  I  was 
in  the  presence  of  a  scholar  and  a  seeker  after  truth. 
His  is  an  intellect  devoted  entirely  to  what  he  con- 
siders the  truth,  and  his  is  a  heart  deeply  affected 
by  every  spiritual  sensation  which  is  in  the  air.  He 
also  delights  to  engage  in  what  he  considers  the 
"Battles  of  the  Lord,"  and  Judaism  has  need  for  men 
of  valor. 

To  speak  more  clearly :  Since  the  so-called  emanci- 
pation, the  Jews  of  the  civilized  world  have  been 
lulled  into  a  fancied  security  which  events  have  not 

*Address  delivered  at  Judaean  Banquet,   given  in  honor  of  Dr. 
Kaufman  Kohler,  March  26,  1903. 


36  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

justified.  It  is  true  that  through  the  revelations  in 
the  Dreyfus  case,  anti-Semitism  of  the  vulgar  sort 
has  become  odious,  and  no  lady  or  gentleman  dares 
now  to  use  the  old  weapons  of  the  times  of  Drumont 
and  Stoecker.  But  the  arch-enemy  has  entered  upon 
a  new  phase,  which  Boerne  might  have  called  "the 
philosophic  'Hep-Hep.'  '  And  this  is  the  more 
dangerous  phase  because  it  is  of  a  spiritual  kind,  and 
thus  means  the  "excision  of  the  soul,"  leaving  us 
no  hope  for  immortality.  I  remember  when  I  used 
to  come  home  from  the  Cheder,  bleeding  and  crying 
from  the  wounds  inflicted  upon  me  by  the  Christian 
boys,  my  father  used  to  say,  "My  child,  we  are  in 
Galuth  (exile),  and  we  must  submit  to  God's  will." 
And  he  made  me  understand  that  this  is  only  a 
passing  stage  in  history,  as  we  Jews  belong  to  eternity, 
when  God  will  comfort  His  people.  Thus  the  pain 
was  only  physical,  but  my  real  suffering  began  later 
in  life,  when  I  emigrated  from  Roumania  to  so-called 
civilized  countries  and  found  there  what  I  might  call 
the  Higher  anti-Semitism,  which  burns  the  soul 
though  it  leaves  the  body  unhurt.  The  genesis  of 
this  Higher  anti-Semitism  is  partly,  though  not  en- 
tirely— for  a  man  like  Kuenen  belongs  to  an  entirely 
different  class — contemporaneous  with  the  genesis 
of  the  so-called  Higher  criticism  of  the  Bible.  Well- 
hausen's  Prolegomena  and  History  are  teeming  with 
aperies  full  of  venom  against  Judaism,  and  you  cannot 
wonder  that  he  was  rewarded  by  one  of  the  highest 
orders  which  the  Prussian  Government  had  to  bestow. 
Afterwards  Harnack  entered  into  the  arena  with  his 
"Wesen  des  Christenthums,"  in  which  he  showed  not  so 


HIGHER  CRITICISM— HIGHER  ANTI-SEMITISM    37 

much  his  hatred  as  his  ignorance  of  Judaism.  But 
this  Higher  anti-Semitism  has  now  reached  its  climax 
when  every  discovery  of  recent  years  is  called  to  bear 
witness  against  us  and  to  accuse  us  of  spiritual  larceny. 
Some  time  ago  I  saw  in  one  of  the  numerous  sheets 
of  this  country  a  reference  to  the  Hammurabi  Code, 
concluding  with  the  words,  "this  means  a  blow  to 
Orthodoxy."  I  hold  no  brief  for  Orthodoxy  in  this 
country  or  elsewhere.  But,  may  I  ask:  Is  there  any 
wing  in  Judaism  which  is  prepared  to  confirm  the 
reproach  of  Carlyle,  who,  in  one  of  his  anti-Semitic 
fits,  exclaimed,  'The  Jews  are  always  dealing  in  old 
clothes;  spiritual  or  material."  We  are  here  between 
ourselves,  so  we  may  frankly  make  the  confession  that 
we  did  not  invent  the  art  of  printing;  we  did  not 
discover  America,  in  spite  of  Kayserling;  we  did  not 
inaugurate  the  French  Revolution,  in  spite  of  some 
one  else;  we  were  not  the  first  to  utilize  the  power  of 
steam  or  electricity,  in  spite  of  any  future  Kayserling. 
Our  great  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  mankind  is  that 
we  gave  to  the  world  the  word  of  God,  the  Bible.  We 
have  stormed  heaven  to  snatch  down  this  heavenly 
gift,  as  the  Paitanic  expression  is;  we  threw  ourselves 
into  the  breach  and  covered  it  with  our  bodies  against 
every  attack;  we  allowed  ourselves  to  be  slain  by 
hundreds  and  thousands  rather  than  become  unfaith- 
ful to  it;  and  we  bore  witness  to  its  truth  and  watched 
over  its  purity  in  the  face  of  a  hostile  world.  The 
Bible  is  our  sole  raison  d'etre,  and  it  is  just  this  which 
the  Higher  anti-Semitism  is  seeking  to  destroy, 
denying  all  our  claims  for  the  past,  and  leaving  u 
without  hope  for  the  future. 


38  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Can  any  section  among  us  afford  to  concede  to 
this  professorial  and  imperial  anti-Semitism  and 
confess  "for  a  truth  we  and  our  ancestors  have 
sinned;"  we  have  lived  on  false  pretenses  and  were 
the  worst  shams  in  the  world?  Forget  not  that  we 
live  in  an  historical  age  in  which  everybody  must 
show  his  credentials  from  the  past.  The  Bible  is  our 
patent  of  nobility  granted  to  us  by  the  Almighty 
God,  and  if  we  disown  the  Bible,  leaving  it  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  a  Wellhausen,  Stade  and  Duhm,  and 
other  beautiful  souls  working  away  at  diminishing  the 
"nimbus  of  the  Chosen  People,"  the  world  will  disown 
us.  There  is  no  room  in  it  for  spiritual  parvenus. 
But  this  intellectual  persecution  can  only  be  fought 
by  intellectual  weapons  and  unless  we  make  an  effort 
to  recover  our  Bible  and  to  think  out  our  theology 
for  ourselves,  we  are  irrevocably  lost  from  both 
worlds.  A  mere  protest  in  the  pulpit  or  a  vigorous 
editorial  in  a  paper,  or  an  amateur  essay  in  a  monthly, 
or  even  a  special  monograph  will  not  help  us.  We 
have  to  create  a  really  living,  great  literature,  and 
do  the  same  for  the  subjects  of  theology  and  the 
Bible  that  Europe  has  done  for  Jewish  history  and 
philology.  It  is  in  view  of  this  fact  that  I  hail 
Dr.  Kohler's  election  to  the  Presidency  of  the  Hebrew 
Union  College  as  a  happy  event  in  the  annals  of 
American  Jewry;  for  under  his  guidance  I  am  sure 
Cincinnati  will,  in  good  time,  contribute  its  share 
to  this  great  "battle  of  duty."  Some  amiable  per- 
sons predict  jealousy  and  strife  between  the  two 
colleges,  and  are  already  preparing  to  enjoy  the  fight 
as  disinterested  spectators.  I  am  certain  that  they 


HIGHER  CRITICISM— HIGHER  ANTI-SEMITISM    39 

will  prove  false  prophets,  for  the  old  dictum  that  the 
students  of  the  Torah  increase  peace  in  the  world, 
holds  good  also  in  our  day.  But  let  me  say  to  you 
that  this  yearning  after  peace,  on  my  part,  is  not  to  be 
taken  as  a  sign  of  my  entertaining  any  doubt  as  to 
the  soundness  of  my  theological  position,  or  fear  of 
a  strenuous  life.  I  am,  as  a  rule,  not  given  to  mental 
squinting,  nor  have  I  ever  shunned  a  fight.  But  I 
honor  and  admire  Dr.  Kohler  too  much  to  take  up 
the  position  of  an  antagonist.  Besides,  you  have 
probably  heard  the  story  of  that  Methodist  parson 
who  rebuked  one  of  his  parishioners  who  occasionally 
indulged  in  wife-beating,  with  the  words:  "How 
can  you  spend  your  time  in  fighting  your  wife,  when 
you  both  should  be  fighting  the  devil?"  In  fact, 
I  feel  that  we  are  standing  now  before  a  crisis  which 
would  stigmatize  the  indulgence  in  such  a  fight  as 
treason  to  the  cause  of  Judaism;  we  must  gather  our 
forces  and  fight  the  enemy;  and  Dr.  Kohler,  by  his 
wide  learning,  contagious  enthusiasm  and  noble 
character,  is  the  right  man  in  the  right  place  to 
marshal  a  part  of  these  forces,  which  may,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  help  us  to  victory. 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A  WITNESS.* 

JAMES  Russell  Lowell  in  one  of  his  political  essays 
laid  down  the  principle  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
great  nation  to  produce  great  men.  With  all  due 
deference  to  all  sorts  of  mediocrities,  I  venture  to 
say  that  the  same  principle  is  to  be  applied  to  matters 
spiritual,  and  that  it  is  also  the  duty  of  every  great 
religion  to  produce  great  men.  In  the  absence  of 
these — the  great  men — a  nation  is  apt  to  degenerate 
into  a  mere  mob  governed  by  the  petty  and  selfish 
interests  of  its  various  factions,  without  any  vitalizing 
and  uniting  principle  to  sustain  it  on  its  day  of  peril ; 
while  religion  in  a  similar  condition  is  sure  to  dissolve 
into  a  mere  series  of  excitements  of  ranting  sects, 
without  any  philosophy  and  inspiring  idea,  and  liable 
to  become  the  prey  of  all  sorts  of  quacks  and  flaring 
orators,  who  are  certain  to  forsake  it  at  the  prospect 
of  some  fresh  sensation,  or  the  bidding  of  some  new 
fashion.  The  great  men  are  not  frequent;  in  fact, 
they  belong  to  the  section  of  humanity  of  which  the 
Rabbis  have  said  that  they  are  so  few  that  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  distributed  them  over  all 
generations  so  that  humanity  at  large  may  profit  by 
their  counsel;  as  it  is  said  (I  Samuel  2:8),  "For  the 
rocks  of  the  earth  are  the  Lord's,  and  He  set  the 
world  upon  them." 

But  however  rare  they  may  be,  the  rocks  do  exist, 
notwithstanding  all  demagogic  clamor  which  would 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Seminary  Building, 
April  26,  1903. 


42  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

make    us    believe    that   heaven    particularly    favors 
the  gravel. 

Now,  if  we  do  not  want  to  earn  the  opprobrium  of 
our  enemies,  reproaching  us  with  being  too  mechanical, 
the  mission  of  seminaries  should  prominently  consist 
in  providing  religion  with  great  men  who  would  prove 
to  be  its  very  rocks  and  pillars.  But  what  are  the 
conditions  under  which  greatness  must  develop? 
They  are  many  and  manifold,  and  the  time  at  my 
disposal  makes  it  impossible  to  enter  here  into  de- 
tails, but  with  your  kind  permission  I  will  say  a  few 
words  on  one  or  two  of  these  conditions,  which  are 
of  a  more  general  character,  and  which  seem  to  me 
to  be  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  prosperity  of 
our  religious  institutions.  The  first  condition  is 
the  creation  of  a  proper  spiritual  atmosphere. 

An  ancient  Rabbinic  tractate  dealing  with  the 
methods  of  acquiring  wisdom  counts  not  less  than 
forty-eight  qualifications  which  the  student  should 
possess.  But  apart  from  the  few  intellectual  qualifi- 
cations, which  are,  after  all,  a  gift  of  nature,  they  may 
all  be  summed  up  in  the  single  Hebrew  word,  ilOB^ 
Lishmah,  which  means  the  study  of  the  Torah  for 
the  sake  of  God,  without  an  eye  to  any  worldly 
advantages.  "Say  not,"  teaches  the  Sifre,  "I  will 
study  Torah  in  order  that  I  may  attain  the  title  of 
Rabbi  or  Chacham,  or  that  I  may  get  a  salary,  or 
that  I  may  be  rewarded  for  it  in  the  world  to  come,  but 
devote  thyself  to  it  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of  God." 

This  is  not  a  very  practical  program.  Modern 
conditions  make  it  necessary,  I  am  afraid,  that  even 
our  training  schools  for  the  sacred  calling  should  be 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A   WITNESS  43 

largely  conducted  on  the  unsacred  principle  of  the 
ultimate  material  success  of  the  alumni.  But  let  us 
not  be  too  successful.  For  it  is  this  consideration  of 
ulterior  motives  which  is  responsible  for  the  fact 
that  latter  day  Judaism  is  almost  entirely  devoid  of 
the  element  of  saintliness,  without  which  religion 
itself  becomes  profane  and  secularized. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  give  an  exact  definition  of 
saintliness.  Saintliness  is  the  last  in  the  scale  of 
the  ten  virtues  leading  up  to  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  (Ruach  Hakodesh),  and  as  such  it  defies 
analysis;  but  it  may  perhaps  be  dimly  described  as 
the  feminine — not  feminized — element  of  religion, 
furnishing  it  with  the  compounds  of  delicacy  and 
chasteness.  It  shudders  at  the  touch  of  anything 
sensational  or  vulgar;  it  shrinks  back  from  all  pub- 
licity, for  it  is  "the  glory  of  the  king's  daughter  to 
be  within,"  not  on  the  market  place  and  thorough- 
fares. It  is  unpractical  and  self-sacrificing,  and 
certainly  not  free  from  ascetic  tendencies.  It  labors 
more  with  the  heart  than  with  the  lungs,  but  its  very 
silence  is  eloquent.  A  glance,  or  a  nod  of  approval 
or  a  sigh,  not  to  say  a  tear  coming  from  one  in  pos- 
session of  saintliness,  is  with  noble  and  sensitive  souls 
more  effective  than  cartloads  of  volumes  of  finished 
oratory.  The  title  of  such  a  saint  is  neither  Rabbi, 
nor  Doctor,  nor  Professor,  nor  even  Dean  or  Pres- 
ident, but  as  our  sages  tell  us,  he  is  called  friend, 
beloved,  lover  of  God  and  lover  of  mankind.  "The 
Torah,"  whose  secrets  are  revealed  unto  him,  "clothes 
him  with  meekness  and  reverence.  He  becomes 


44  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

modest,  long  suffering  and  forgiving,  and  it  makes 
him  great  and  exalts  him  above  all  things."  This 
was  the  ideal  scholar  and  saint  of  the  old  Rabbinic 
times,  and  he  will  certainly  never  appear  on  our 
globe  again,  as  long  as  we  do  not  alter  the  standard 
of  greatness,  and  make  room  for  him  in  the  economy 
of  our  higher  religious  institutions. 

In  one  of  his  philosophical  works  Maimonides 
declared  that  he  would  feel  no  compunction  in  being 
useful  to  one  wise  man  at  the  risk  of  injuring  ten 
thousand  fools.  Such  a  division  of  humanity  is  rather 
invidious,  considering  the  largeness  of  the  dividend 
and  the  smallness  of  the  divisor,  but  I  think  that  none 
of  us  will  hesitate  to  employ  the  best  means  that  may 
be  helpful  toward  the  producing  of  a  single  saint  at 
the  risk  of  inconveniencing  crowds  of  theological 
skyscrapers  and  ecclesiastical  office  seekers. 

Another  condition  for  producing  greatness  is  that 
the  teaching  in  our  seminaries  should  be  wide  and 
comprehensive,  containing  within  itself  the  elements 
of  eternity  and  catholicity.  I  will  explain  myself: 
Among  the  various  legends  attaching  to  the  account 
of  the  revelation  on  Mount  Sinai  there  is  one  to  the 
effect  that  this  glorious  act  was  not  only  witnessed 
by  the  master  of  the  prophets  and  his  contempo- 
raries, but  also  by  those  who  departed  from  these 
regions  long  since  and  who  came  to  life  again  for  that 
blissful  moment,  as  well  as  by  the  souls  of  those  who 
were  still  to  be  born.  "For,"  the  Rabbis  proceed 
to  say,  "was  it  not  said  by  Moses,  'Neither  with  you 
only  do  I  make  this  covenant  and  this  oath,  but  with 
him  that  standeth  here  with  us  this  day  before  the 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A   WITNESS  45 

Lord  our  God,  and  also  with  him  that  is  not  here  and 
with  us  this  day.'  '  The  underlying  idea  is  that  a 
religious  manifestation,  to  be  truly  great  and  inspir- 
ing, must  also  have  regard  for  those  who  are  not  there. 
It  must  include  both  an  appeal  to  the  past,  to  which 
it  should  give  back  life  and  continuity,  and  hold  out 
a  good  message  to  the  future,  which  would,  in  its 
turn,  endow  it  with  immortality.  It  is  true  that  it 
is  the  present  and  its  needs  which  have  the  first 
claims  upon  our  attention,  and  I  would  be  sorry  in- 
deed to  see  the  Jewish  ministry  proof  against  the 
demands  of  our  own  times.  What  attracted  me  many 
years  ago  to  Krochmal's  famous  work  was  the  title, 
The  Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of  the  Times,  thereby 
showing  that  every  time  has  its  own  perplexities  and 
therefore  is  in  need  of  its  own  guidance ;  but  it  is  also 
from  this  immortal  work  and  other  kindred  works 
from  which  I  have  learned  that  unless  it  is  a  present 
which  forms  a  link  between  two  eternities,  repre- 
senting an  answer  of  Amen  to  the  past  and  an  Open- 
ing Prayer  to  the  future,  it  will  be  a  very  petty 
present  indeed,  while  its  so-called  needs  will  often 
turn  but  to  be  a  mere  caprice  of  the  mob,  or  a  whim 
of  fashion,  or  the  hobby  of  some  wilful  individual, 
sure  to  disappear  when  viewed  sub  specie  aeternitatis. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted  to  read  here  with 
relation  to  such  needs  the  following  passage  from  a 
book  existing  only  in  proof.  After  showing  that 
Judaism  has  the  same  powers  of  adaptability  as 
any  other  religion,  the  author  proceeds  to  say: 

"It  must,  however,  be  remarked  that  this  satis- 
fying the  needs  of  anybody  and  everybody,  of  every 


46  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

moment  and  every  fleeting  season,  is  not  the  highest 
ideal  which  Judaism  set  before  itself.  Altogether  I 
venture  to  think,"  our  author  says,  "that  the  now 
fashionable  test  of  determining  the  worth  of  religion 
by  its  capability  to  supply  the  various  demands  of 
the  great  market  of  believers  has  something  low  and 
mercenary  about  it.  Nothing  less  than  a  good  old 
honest  heathen  Pantheon,  with  beautiful  gods,  jovial 
gods,  lusty  gods,  ailing  gods,  fighting  gods,  intoxi- 
cated gods,  male  gods  and  female  gods — nothing  less 
than  this  would  satisfy  the  crazes  and  imaginary 
cravings  of  our  pampered  humanity,  with  its  pagan 
reminiscences,  its  metaphysical  confusion  of  lan- 
guages, its  aesthetic  pretensions,  and  its  theological 
idiosyncracies.  No!  True  religion  is  above  all  these 
silly  demands.  It  is  not  a  jack-of -all- trades,  meaning 
Monotheism  to  the  philosopher,  Pluralism  to  the 
crowd,  some  mysterious  Nothing  to  the  agnostic, 
Pantheism  to  the  poet,  and  Service  of  Man  to  the 
Hero  worshipper.  Its  mission  is  just  as  much  to 
teach  the  world  that  there  are  false  gods  and  false 
ideals  as  to  bring  it  nearer  to  the  true  one.  It  means 
to  convert  the  world,  not  to  convert  itself.  It  dis- 
dains a  victory  by  defeating  itself,  in  giving  up  its 
essential  doctrines,  its  most  sacred  symbols,  its  most 
precious  traditions  and  its  most  vital  teaching.  It 
has  confidence  in  the  world;  it  hopes  and  prays  and 
waits  patiently  for  the  Great  Day  when  the  world 
will  be  ripe  for  its  acceptance." 

And  least  of  all  will  the  instruction  suited  to  the 
needs  of  such  an  isolated  and  detached  present  ever 
embody  any  features  of  greatness.  "Had  Dante's 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A   WITNESS  47 

scope,"  says  a  great  critic,  "been  narrowed  to  con- 
temporary Italy,  the  'Divine  Comedy'  would  have 
been  a  picture  book  merely."  Picture  books  are  very 
pleasant,  and  useful  enough  for  babies  and  grown  up 
children,  but  certainly  not  great. 

With  the  Bible  in  particular  it  is  this  feature  of 
eternity  which  is  so  striking  even  to  the  imagination 
of  those  whom  nobody  will  ever  suspect  of  any 
dogmatic  bias  or  prejudice  in  favor  of  any  particular 
creed.  Listen  only  to  the  following  passage  taken 
from  a  book  of  Sir  James  G.  Frazer,  the  famous 
editor  of  Pausanias,  and  the  not  less  famous  author 
of  the  Golden  Bough.  It  reads  thus: 

"Apart  from  all  questions  of  its  religious  and 
historical  import,  which  do  not  here  concern  us,  the 
Bible  is  an  epic,  if  not  a  history,  of  the  world;  or,  to 
change  the  metaphor,  it  unrolls  a  vast  panorama  in 
which  the  ages  of  the  world  move  before  us  in  a  long 
train  of  solemn  imagery,  from  the  creation  of  the 
earth  and  the  heavens  onward  to  the  final  passing 
away  of  all  this  material  universe,  and  the  coming  of 
a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  shall  dwell 
righteousness.  Against  this  gorgeous  background, 
this  ever  shifting  scenery,  now  bright  with  the  hues 
of  heaven,  now  lurid  with  the  glare  of  hell,  we  see 
mankind  strutting  and  playing  their  little  part  on 
the  stage  of  history.  We  see  them  taken  from  the 
dust  and  returning  to  the  dust;  we  see  the  rise  and 
fall  of  empires;  we  see  great  cities,  now  the  hive  of 
busy  multitudes,  now  silent  and  desolate,  a  den  of 
wild  beasts.  All  life's  fever  is  there — its  loves  and 
hopes  and  joys,  its  high  endeavors,  its  suffering  and 


48  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

sin  and  sorrow.  And  then,  last  scene  of  all,  we  see 
the  Great  White  Throne  and  the  endless  multitude 
gathered  before  it;  we  hear  the  final  doom  pro- 
nounced; and  as  the  curtain  falls,  we  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  fires  of  hell  and  the  glories  of  heaven — a  vision 
of  the  world  (how  different  from  this!)  where  care 
and  sin  and  sorrow  shall  be  no  more,  where  the  saints 
shall  rest  from  their  labors,  and  where  God  Himself 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes." 

Nor  must  the  teaching  in  the  Seminary  be  over- 
much burdened  with  the  considerations  of  locality. 
The  Directors  of  this  institution,  by  terming  it  the 
"Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America,"  have 
distinctly  shown  their  intention  of  avoiding  sec- 
tarianism; for  it  is  an  especial  American  feature  that 
no  preference  is  given  to  any  denomination  or  sect 
or  theological  Richtung.  They  are  all  alike  welcome, 
each  working  out  its  salvation  in  its  own  fashion. 
Again,  if  there  is  a  feature  in  American  religious  life 
more  prominent  than  any  other,  it  is  its  conservative 
tendency.  The  history  of  the  United  States  does 
not  begin  with  the  Red  Indian,  and  the  genesis  of 
its  spiritual  life  is  not  to  be  traced  back  to  the  vagaries 
of  some  peculiar  sects.  This  country  is,  as  everybody 
knows,  a  creation  of  the  Bible,  particularly  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  Bible  is  still  holding  its  own, 
exercising  enormous  influence  as  a  real  spiritual 
power,  in  spite  of  all  the  destructive  tendencies, 
mostly  of  foreign  make.  Nay,  it  is  this  very  excess 
of  zeal  and  the  over-realization  of  the  presence  of 
Biblical  times  which  unfortunately  enabled  quacks 
to  create  new  Tabernacles  here,  with  new  Zions 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A   WITNESS  49 

and  Jerusalems,  and  to  proclaim  themselves  as  second 
or  first  Moseses,  and  even  to  profit  their  followers 
with '  caricature  revelations.  But  these  are  only  the 
excesses.  The  large  bulk  of  the  real  American  people 
have,  in  matters  of  religion,  retained  their  sobriety 
and  loyal  adherence  to  the  Scriptures,  as  their  Puritan 
forefathers  did.  America  thus  stands  both  for  wide- 
ness  of  scope  and  for  conservatism.  But  be  this  as 
it  may,  forget  not  that  this  is  a  Jewish  Theological 
Seminary,  having  the  mission  to  teach  the  doctrines 
and  the  literature  of  the  religion  which  is  as  old  as 
history  itself  and  as  wide  as  the  world.  Any  at- 
tempt to  confine  its  activity  to  the  borders  of  a  single 
country,  even  be  it  as  large  as  America,  will  only 
make  its  teachings  provincial,  narrow  and  unprofit- 
able. Israel,  and  Israel  alone,  must  be  the  end  for 
which  synagogues  and  seminaries  are  erected,  even 
in  this  country.  Thus  teaches  the  Book  of  Maccabees: 
"God  did  not  choose  His  people  (Israel)  for  the  sake 
of  the  place  (that  is,  His  Temple),  but  the  place  for 
the  sake  of  the  people." 

I  am  not  an  opponent  of  state  rights,  and  much 
less  of  the  rights  of  a  whole  continent,  and  I  readily 
concede  that  the  Seminary  should  always  give  due 
consideration  to  the  religious  needs  of  this  country. 
For  instance,  I  am  of  opinion  that  we  should  in  this 
country,  with  its  peculiar  theological  atmosphere, 
pay  more  attention  to  Bible  and  theology  than  we  did 
in  Europe.  I  am  further  of  opinion  that  in  a  demo- 
cratic country  like  this,  everything  should  be  avoided 
in  the  teaching  of  theological  institutions  which  is 
calculated  to  emphasize  the  difference  between 


50  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

layman  and  Rabbi.  I  am  also  inclined  to  think  that 
any  attempt  towards  the  centralization  of  the  spirit- 
ual power  into  the  hands  of  a  man  or  a  body  of  men 
will  only  prove  injurious  to  this  country,  with  its 
free  and  broad  spirit.  But  these,  and  many  other 
questions  like  these,  of  a  disciplinary  nature,  are  of 
minor  importance.  The  great  body  of  Jewish  doc- 
trine and  Jewish  law  as  taught  by  Catholic  Israel 
has  nothing  in  it  to  collide  with  the  American  spirit, 
and  the  Seminary  to  be  really  great  will  have  to  be 
catholic,  and  of  a  uniting  nature. 

There  is  an  old  Jewish  prayer  reading  thus:  "Oh, 
God,  protect  me  against  the  day  when  one  part  (of 
my  body)  will  become  a  burden  to  the  other."  Un- 
fortunately, there  are  symptoms  that  this  day  is  not 
far.  There  is  even  a  tendency  noticeable  not  only  to 
hasten  this  day,  but  at  last  to  drop  the  burden  and 
to  give  up  all  notion  of  solidarity  and  of  mutual 
responsibility.  There  is  no  other  way  to  save  us 
from  such  a  calamity  but  to  strengthen  our  loyalty 
to  the  Torah  and  to  devote  ourselves  to  its  study. 

Lord  John  Morley,  in  his  essay  on  Emerson,  re- 
lates that  while  the  New  England  mystic  was  lecturing, 
one  of  the  audience  asked  his  neighbor:  "Can  you 
tell  me  what  connection  there  is  between  that  last 
sentence  and  the  one  that  went  before,  and  what 
connection  it  all  has  with  Plato?"  "None,  my 
friend,  save  in  God!"  If  I  were  asked  what  connec- 
tion is  there,  say,  in  order  to  except  present  company, 
between  Rabbi  Moses  ben  Maimon,  of  Cordova 
(known  as  Maimonides),  and  Solomon  ben  Isaac, 
of  Troyes  (known  as  Rashi),  I  would  say,  "None, 


THE  SEMINARY  AS  A   WITNESS  51 

save  in  God  and  His  Torah."    The  one  lived  under  a 
Mohammedan  government;  the  other  under  a  Chris- 
tian government.     The  one  spoke  Arabic;  the  other 
French.    The  one  had  all  the  advantage  of  an  Eastern 
civilization,   the  other   lived   in   the   barbaric  West. 
The    one    was    a    merchant,    afterwards    a    famous 
physician  in  the  great  capitals  of  Cordova  and  Cairo; 
the  other  was  a  Rabbi,  without  salary,  in  an  unim- 
portant  provincial    city.      The   one   was   a   persona 
grata  for  many  years  of  his  life  at  the  court  of  Saladin, 
"the   most   enlightened   despot   who   ever   sat   on   a 
throne;"  the  other  probably  never  had  the  good,  or 
rather  the  bad  fortune,  of  ever  speaking  even  to  the 
chief  constable  of  his  place.    The  one  was  a  thorough 
Aristotelian  and  possessed  of  all  the  culture  of  his 
day;  the  other  was  an  exclusively  Rabbinic  scholar 
and  hardly  knew  the  name  of  Aristotle.     The  one 
was  all  system  and   method,  writing  everything  in 
a  smooth,  elegant  style;  the  other  belonged  to  the 
great    inarticulates,    and    wrote    very    little    beyond 
commentaries  and  "occasional  notes."     But  as  they 
both   observed   the  same   fasts  and   feasts;  as   they 
both  revered  the  same  sacred  symbols,  though  they 
put  different  interpretations  on  them;  as  they  both 
prayed  in  the  same  language — Hebrew;  as  they  both 
were  devoted  students  of  the  same  Torah,   though 
they  often  differed  in  its  explanation;  as  they  both 
looked   back   to   Israel's   past   with   admiration   and 
reverence,    though    Maimonides'    conception    of    the 
Revelation,  for  instance,  largely  varied  from  that  of 
Rashi;  as  their  ultimate  hopes  centred  in  the  same 
redemption — in  one  word,  as  they  studied  the  Torah 


52  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

and  lived  in  accordance  with  its  laws,  and  both  made 
the  hopes  of  the  Jewish  nation  their  own,  the  bonds 
of  unity  were  strong  enough  even  to  survive  the 
misunderstandings  between  their  respective  followers. 
And  they  both  became  the  rocks  and  pillars  of 
Judaism;  and  a  Leopold  Zunz,  or  an  Isaac  Hirsch 
Weiss,  of  Vienna,  were  able  to  appreciate  both  Rashi 
and  Maimonides,  and  to  fall  in  love  with  both  of 
them.  It  is  only  by  strengthening  these  bonds  of 
unity,  by  appreciating  everything  Jewish  and  falling 
in  love  with  it,  that  this  great  monument  presented 
to  us  and  to  Judaism  by  our  noble  donor,  whom  one 
dares  not  thank  but  in  oblique  sentences,  will  become 
a  blessing  and  a  prayer,  and,  like  the  trans- Jordanic 
altar  of  the  Book  of  Joshua,  it  will  stand  not  only 
for  unity  and  brotherhood,  but  like  that,  it  will  also 
be  called  witness,  "for  it  shall  be  a  witness  between 
us  that  the  Lord  is  God!" 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS.* 

IN  THE  days  of  yore,  when  Babylon  formed  the 
centre  of  Jewish  civilization,  and  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  of  Israel  were  turned  toward  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  for  instruction  and  enlight- 
enment, they  had  the  goodly  custom  to  meet  twice  a 
year  in  religious  convention;  once  at  the  end  of  the 
winter,  and  again  at  the  end  of  the  summer.  These 
conventions,  which  usually  met  at  the  great  seats  of 
learning,  Sura  and  Pumbedita,  were  honored  with  the 
presence  of  the  heads  of  the  Academies,  the  chiefs  of 
the  Colleges,  the  Princes  of  the  Captivity,  and  the 
Judges  of  the  Gate.  These  men  of  light  and  leading, 
they  and  their  disciples,  and  the  disciples  of  their 
disciples,  all  flocked  there  with  the  purpose  of  fighting 
out  the  "Battle  of  the  Torah,"  until  every  obscurity 
was  made  clear,  and  every  law  was  fixed,  "citing 
proof  from  the  Bible,  the  Mishnah,  and  the  Talmud," 
thus  removing  every  stumbling-block  from  the  path 
of  Israel.  The  session  extended  over  a  whole  month, 
and  the  days  on  which  they  met  were  called  the  "Days 
of  the  Kallah."  The  term  is  rather  obscure,  but  we 
shall  not  go  far  wrong  if,  with  some  scholars,  we  render 
it  the  "Days  of  the  Bride,"  thus  implying  the  mystical 
conception  of  man's  communion  with  God,  in  which 
the  Torah  figures  as  the  bride,  and  the  act  of  Revela- 
tion as  wedding  heaven  to  earth.  These  conventions 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Biennial  Meeting  of  the  Jewish  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  America,  March  20,  1904. 


54  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

were  then  considered  as  a  sort  of  spiritual  honey- 
moon. Court  was  paid  to  the  Torah,  and  fresh 
declarations  of  love  and  devotion  and  loyalty  were 
made  to  her. 

But  times  have  changed  and  we  have  changed  with 
the  times.  We  have  grown  too  old  and  too  sober  for 
semi-annual  honeymoons.  Life  is  too  strenuous,  and 
the  demands  upon  the  time  of  our  communal  workers 
are  too  great  to  allow  any  hope  of  such  protracted 
meetings  of  a  month's  duration.  We  must,  therefore, 
be  satisfied  with  biennial  conventions,  and  it  gives  me 
much  pleasure  to  welcome  you  here,  in  the  Jewish 
Theological  Seminary  of  America,  as  the  President  of 
the  Institution,  and  to  thank  you  for  the  support  you 
have  granted  us. 

At  a  biennial  convention,  held  many  years  ago, 
the  late  Dr.  Sabato  Morais,  the  founder  of  this 
institution,  expressed  himself  to  the  following  effect: 

"If  my  voice  could  but  reach  many  a  wealthy  man 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  I  would  picture  to  them 
ancestral  Judaism  in  the  act  of  imploring  that  it  may 
not  be  suffered  to  perish;  Judaism  entreating  for  the 
means  that  will  nurture  and  raise  spiritual  physicians, 
Rabbis  skilled  in  the  art  of  infusing  into  our  religious 
body  fresher  and  more  vigorous  powers." 

The  righteous  are  greater  in  their  death  than  in 
their  life,  and  their  supplications  have  reached  not 
only  the  wealthiest,  but  at  the  same  time  some  of  the 
noblest  and  best  among  us,  who  hastened  to  come  to 
the  relief  of  this  institution,  and  established  it  on  a 
firm  basis.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  no  Jewish 
seminary,  either  in  this  country  or  abroad,  can  lay 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS  55 

claim  to  be  better  equipped  than  we  are.  Our 
Seminary  is  located  in  a  building  most  suitable  for 
its  purpose;  it  commands  a  staff  of  teachers,  the 
majority  of  whom  may  be  called  thorough  specialists 
in  their  subjects;  it  has  a  large  number  of  pupils; 
it  is  in  possession  of  a  library,  collected  and  donated 
by  Judge  Sulzberger  with  the  best  of  judgment  and 
with  the  greatest  of  sacrifices,  such  as  no  other 
seminary  in  the  world  can  show.  Writing  lately  on 
certain  Halachic  portions  of  the  Sifre,  very  com- 
plicated and  hard  to  understand,  I  had  the  satis- 
faction to  find  in  the  Judge's  collection  not  less  than 
five  commentaries  on  the  book  mentioned,  greatly 
helping  me  to  clear  up  a  very  obscure  subject;  whilst 
till  now,  when  under  similar  difficulties,  I  could  only 
appeal  to  one  commentary  at  my  disposal.  This  is 
a  fact  which  every  one  of  us  will  appreciate  at  once. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  "Battles  of  the  Torah"  that 
were  waged  in  the  ancient  semi-annual  conventions. 
The  shortness  of  our  meeting  does  not  allow  me  to 
invite  you  to  join  here  in  these  battles.  They  must 
be  fought  out  by  the  Faculty  and  the  students — I 
hope  not  between  the  Faculty  and  the  students — but 
you  will  be  interested  to  learn  that  we  still  adhere  to 
the  old  custom  of  "citing  proof  from  the  Bible,  and 
the  Mishnah  and  the  Talmud."  These  in  all  their 
ramifications  are  the  subjects  which  are  taught  here. 

Bible  occupies  a  prominent  place  in  our  curriculum, 
and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  it  is  taught  by  a  man  of 
a  thorough  university  training,  who  occupied  the 
position  of  Privatdocent  in  one  of  the  great  German 
universities.  The  subject  is  thus  taught  in  agreement 


56  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

with  the  best  critical  methods.  Provision  has  also 
been  made  for  a  course  of  lectures  introductory  to 
the  Bible,  in  which  the  views  about  the  rise  and 
development  of  the  canon,  both  of  the  ancient  and  of 
the  modern  schools,  will  be  expounded  to  the  classes. 
Our  reason  for  deferring  this  course  of  lectures  to  a 
later  stage  in  the  schedule  is  that  we  find  it  advisable 
that  our  pupils  should  first  know  something  of  the 
Bible  before  they  learn  everything  about  the  Bible. 
But  I  must  tell  you  distinctly  that  with  all  the 
allowance  we  are  making  for  Bible  criticism  and 
modern  requirement,  we  are  not  prepared  to  recon- 
struct the  Bible  in  accordance  with  every  whim  of  the 
latest  commentator.  If  I  have  any  hope  for  myself 
and  for  those  who  are  to  be  trained  in  this  institu- 
tion, it  is  that  the  Bible  will  reconstruct  us. 

When  a  certain  student  approached  Maimonides 
some  eight  hundred  years  ago  with  a  rather  difficult 
question,  relating  to  the  fall  of  man  as  narrated  in  the 
third  chapter  of  Genesis,  the  beginning  of  Maimon- 
ides' answer  was:  "You  appear  to  have  studied  the 
matter  superficially,  and  imagine  that  you  can  under- 
stand a  book  which  has  been  the  guide  of  past  and 
present  generations,  when  you  for  a  moment  with- 
draw from  your  lusts  and  appetites,  and  glance  over 
its  contents  as  if  you  were  reading  a  story  or  some 
poetical  composition.  Collect  your  thoughts  and 
examine  the  matter  carefully,  for  it  is  not  to  be  under- 
stood as  you  first  thought,  but  as  you  will  find  after 
due  deliberation."  In  this  blessed  century  of  ours, 
when  men  who  have  hardly  mastered  the  vocabulary 
of  the  Hebrew  language  parade  as  infallible  critics, 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS  57 

I  can  only  add  to  Maimonides'  advice:  Learn  a 
little  more  Hebrew,  study  a  little  more  the  text  and 
less  commentaries  and  introductions,  make  yourself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  its  idioms  and  the  methods 
of  composition  in  ancient  Israel,  and  you  will  find 
"after  due  deliberation  that  the  matter  is  not  to  be 
understood  as  you  first  thought." 

The  same  critical  methods  are  pursued  in  our 
teaching  of  Rabbinic  literature,  which,  besides  the 
Talmud  Babli,  also  includes  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  ancient  Tannaitic  Midrashim,  as  the  Torat 
Kohanim,  the  Mechilta,  the  Sifre,  and  the  other 
ancient  Rabbinic  collections,  without  which  a  scien- 
tific study  of  the  old  Rabbinic  literature  is  impossible. 

On  a  closer  examination  of  these  works  you  will 
find  that  large  portions  of  them  consist  of  Halachah. 
The  term  Halachah  is  variously  translated.  Those 
who  have  never  given  a  thought  to  it  render  it 
casuistry,  and  are  proud  of  their  ignorance;  whilst 
to  those  who  have  studied  it,  the  Halachah  repre- 
sents the  legal  portion  of  Jewish  literature  accompan- 
ied by  argument,  and  they  endeavor  to  increase  their 
knowledge  of  it.  Now,  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
comment  lately  in  the  press  as  to  the  advisability 
of  the  study  of  the  Halachah  for  the  Occidental  man, 
and  I  owe  you  some  explanation  for  our  alloting  so 
much  time  to  it.  But  can  any  one  tell  men  exactly 
where  the  Occidental  man  is  to  be  found?  I  read  in 
a  paper  the  other  day  that  it  is  only  Kansas  which 
can  lay  claim  to  pure  Occidentalism,  and  that  Chicago 
itself  is  Orientalized.  If  it  is  a  matter  of  geography, 
I  think  that  the  State  of  Washington  or  the  Ter- 


58  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

ritory  of  Alaska  are  the  only  regions  which  can  claim 
this  honor;  but  if  it  is  a  question  of  intellect  and  learn- 
ing, I  will  mention  the  great  Occidental  man  who  died 
lately,  considered  the  greatest  historian,  and  known 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  I  refer  to  Professor 
Mommsen.  It  was  this  Mommsen  who  wrote  the 
famous  history  of  the  Roman  Empire,  but  at  the  same 
time  published  many  volumes  on  the  jurisprudence 
of  the  Romans,  and  as  many  volumes  again  on  in- 
scriptions dating  from  antiquity.  To  mention  another 
Occidental  man,  I  will  name  Gibbon,  the  greatest 
historian  the  English  race  has  ever  produced,  whose 
work  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  has 
passed  through  the  furnace  of  nineteenth  century 
criticism  without  becoming  antiquated;  but  a  full 
account  of  the  Halachah  of  the  Romans  is  incorpor- 
ated in  his  great  history,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
forty-fourth  chapter  of  his  work,  which  passes  as 
one  of  the  best  digests  of  the  Roman  law.  As  to  our 
constitutional  historians,  they  do  not  draw  all  their 
knowledge  of  your  past  from  the  prayers  which 
traveling  ministers  deliver  on  occasion  at  Congress, 
or  from  the  addresses  of  Congressional  chaplains. 
As  far  as  I  know,  their  statements  are  largely  based 
on  the  study  of  the  English  codes,  your  own  collec- 
tion of  Revised  Statutes  and  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  Of  Jewish  historians,  I  will  mention 
here  Leopold  Herzfeld,  whose  Geschichte  des  Volkes 
Jisrael  von  Vollendung  des  Zweiten  Tempels  bis  zur 
Einsetzung  des  Mackabaers  Schimon  forms  the  most 
critical  and  most  thorough  piece  of  history  ever 
written  by  a  Jew.  He  was  one  of  our  best  Halachists, 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS  59 

and  his  work  is  especially  distinguished  by  the  pains- 
taking care  with  which  the  author  studied  the  legal 
portions  of  Rabbinic  literature,  and  the  scientific 
method  in  which  he  utilized  them. 

As  every  one  knows  who  has  occupied  himself 
with  the  study  of  Jewish  history,  the  greatest  defects 
of  many  works  in  this  field  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
their  authors  were  largely  ignorant  of  the  Halachah 
and  lacking  in  a  real  appreciation  of  Jewish  mys- 
ticism. They  have  thus  missed  the  central  springs 
both  of  Jewish  reason  and  of  Jewish  emotion. 

I  by  no  means  entertain  the  hope  that  all  our 
Rabbis  will  develop  into  Mommsens  or  even  Herz- 
felds,  but  I  consider  it  important  for  the  honor  of 
America,  and  of  American  Israel  in  particular,  that 
our  institutions  of  learning  should  be  conducted  on 
such  lines  as  not  to  exclude  all  possibility  of  present- 
ing the  world  one  day  with  a  great  scholar  and  a 
deep  thinker. 

In  addition  to  these  subjects,  we  have  also  regular 
lectures  on  Jewish  history,  Jewish  theology,  Jewish 
philosophy,  Jewish  archaeology  and  Jewish  liturgy. 
Hellenistic  literature  and  the  Apocryphal  Books  have 
also  their  share.  We  also  insist  that  the  student  who 
comes  to  us  should  be  in  possession  of  a  B.  A.  degree 
or  some  equivalent  to  it,  bearing  evidence  to  his  class- 
ical training.  We  consider  this  as  most  essential  for 
the  equipment  of  a  Rabbi.  The  Rabbi  should  be 
"the  greatest  of  his  brethren,"  and  there  must  be  no 
department  of  human  thought  in  which  he  should 
stand  as  inferior  to  any  member  of  his  congregation 
who  has  enjoyed  a  liberal  education.  But  apart  from 


60  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

this  consideration,  I  am  certain  that  such  a  training 
will  prove  most  helpful  to  develop  the  conservative 
tendencies  of  our  young  men  and  will  give  them  that 
gravity,  without  which  the  public  speaker  becomes 
a  mere  windbag  and  ranter.  We  should  never  have 
witnessed  these  wild  excesses  in  our  pulpits  and 
platforms,  had  our  orators,  who  talk  so  much  of 
individuality  and  individualism,  gone  through  a 
proper  course  of  Greek  and  Latin  classics.  They 
would  have  had  a  better  understanding  of  what 
humanity  now  owes  to  antiquity  and  to  its  past, 
and  would  have  been  less  confident  of  their  power  to 
turn  the  wheel  of  history.  Of  course,  Greek  and  Latin 
are  no  guarantee  against  skepticism,  but  my  experi- 
ence has  been  that  what  the  thoroughly  educated 
man  doubted  first  and  last  was  his  own  infallibility. 
We  consider  it  also  important  that  the  R.abbi  should 
have  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  masterpieces  of 
English  literature,  both  in  prose  and  verse.  Their 
study  will  give  a  chasteness  to  the  style  of  the  student, 
and  make  him  the  enemy  of  all  forms  of  blatant 
superficiality.  He  will  learn  from  them  that  thor- 
oughness is  a  part  of  excellence,  and  that  self-com- 
placency is  the  companion  of  ignorance.  More 
than  this,  he  will  come  to  feel  a  wholesome  diffidence 
as  to  his  own  knowledge  and  his  own  powers,  and  will 
regard  only  the  most  mature  thought  and  careful 
presentation  as  becoming  his  office  and  as  worthy 
of  acceptance. 

You  will  say  probably  that  this  is  rather  an 
elaborate  process  for  training  ministers.  I  admit  it. 
But  don't  forget  the  age  of  elixirs  and  universal 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS  61 

remedies  has  passed  away.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  "blessed"  words,  "Israel's  Mission,"  "Evolution," 
and  "Progress"  were  powerful  enough  to  make  the 
fortunes  of  a  preacher  for  the  whole  of  his  life  if  he 
possessed  the  necessary  shouting  organs  to  give  them 
sufficient  emphasis  and  accentuation.  Alas!  Times 
have  changed,  and  these  universal  remedies  have  lost 
their  virtue  with  us.  Serious-minded  men  suddenly 
made  the  discovery  that  the  missionaries  came  so 
close  to  being  converted  themselves  that  it  was  al- 
most impossible  to  discern  between  the  teacher  and 
those  who  were  meant  to  become  the  novices.  Again, 
some  of  those  who  know  best  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"Evolution"  doubt  greatly  its  applicability  to  ethics 
and  to  matters  spiritual.  Personally,  when  I  hear 
how  some  of  our  youngsters  solemnly  declare  to  their 
congregations  that  the  modern  minister  is  a  three- 
fold being,  composed  of  Rabbi,  preacher  and  prophet, 
and  that  he  may  choose  soon  to  reveal  himself  in  this 
last  capacity — I  say,  when  I  hear  such  announcements 
and  think  of  Israel's  great  seers  in  bygone  times — 
I  can  only  wish  that  the  process  of  evolution  might 
have  stopped  at  Isaiah  and  Habbakuk.  As  to 
"Progress,"  the  question  is  where  shall  we  progress? 
When  one,  in  his  forward  movements,  has  reached 
an  abyss  where  one  step  more  would  mean  death  and 
ruin,  he  will  instinctively  shrink  back  and  retrace 
his  steps.  The  only  difference  is  that  those  who  pos- 
sess the  moral  courage,  turn  their  faces  from  the 
abyss  and  walk  in  the  direction  from  which  they  have 
started;  whilst  the  others,  like  the  dead  in  the  myth, 
unable  to  avert  their  eyes  from  the  place  of  their 


62  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 


former  attractions,  walk  backwards.  But  back  they 
go  all  the  same,  in  spite  of  all  their  professions  of 
"Progress."  Judaism  cannot  be  dismissed  with  a  few 
general  meaningless  phrases.  Judaism  is,  as  I  have 
often  insisted  upon,  and  shall  insist  upon  again  on 
every  public  occasion,  a  positive  religion,  with  a 
Sacred  Writ  and  a  continuous  tradition.  It  is  a 
discipline  of  life  and  has  a  philosophy  of  its  own.  It 
has  distinct  precepts,  and  usages,  and  customs, 
consecrated  by  the  consent  of  Catholic  Israel  through 
thousands  of  years,  and  hallowed  by  the  agony  and 
the  tears  of  the  martyrs.  It  has  a  wide  literature 
running  through  all  historic  ages,  with  numberless 
junctions  branching  off  into  every  department  of 
human  thought.  It  has  one  of  the  most  ancient 
liturgies  of  the  world,  of  constant  growth  and  develop- 
ment, but  still  remaining  intact  in  its  main  features. 
The  knowledge  of  such  a  religion  can  be  acquired  only 
by  serious  study  and  elaborate  training,  which  must 
necessarily  last  for  years. 

But  there  is  also  another  point  which  I  should  like 
to  submit  to  your  consideration,  and  in  which  your 
co-operation  is  urgently  needed.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  once  remarked: 

"These  United  States  furnish  the  greatest  market 
for  intellectual  green  fruit  of  all  the  places  in  the 
world.  The  demand  for  intellectual  labor  is  so  enor- 
mous and  the  market  so  far  from  nice  that  young 
talent  is  apt  to  fare  like  un-ipe  gooseberries — get 
plucked  to  make  a  fool  of." 

We  are  trying  our  best  to  improve  the  market  and 
to  make  it  "nice."  But  it  is  also  necessary  that  you 


SPIRITUAL  HONEYMOONS  63 

on  your  part  should  be  more  careful  in  your  demand ; 
that  you  should  allow  young  talent  to  ripen.  This  is 
not  merely  a  question  of  finances,  but  it  is  a  question 
of  raising  the  standard  of  the  qualification  of  the 
ministry  altogether.  Study  requires  ripening,  and  the 
problems  of  Judaism  are  not  such  that  a  young  man  of 
twenty  might  master  them,  even  if  he  were  a  genius. 
All  our  labors  will  be  in  vain  as  long  as  those  who 
have  hardly  begun  to  learn  are  burdened  with  the 
office  of  teaching.  The  pioneer  season,  with  its  partial 
savagery,  its  unrest,  its  haste,  and  its  adventurous 
character,  has  given  way  to  settled,  solid  and  method- 
ical habits  of  life,  and  it  is  high  time  that  the  Syna- 
gogue should  come  to  its  rights,  and  be  dealt  with  in 
the  same  careful  and  solemn  manner  as  is  accorded  to 
all  other  higher  interests  of  the  community.  It  is 
only  then  that  Judaism  will  be  able  to  re-discover  it- 
self, and  to  accomplish  those  sacred  duties  for  which 
our  ancestors  died,  and  for  which  we  hope  to  live. 


REBELLION  AGAINST  BEING  A  PROBLEM.* 

OF  ALL  the  various  banquets  and  receptions  given 
in  honor  of  great  men  which  it  has  ever  been  my 
privilege  to  attend,  none  has  afforded  me  more 
gratification  than  the  opportunity  offered  to  me  of 
being  present  at  this  dinner,  given  in  honor  of  our 
revered  guest,  Monsieur  Anatole  Leroy-Beaulieu, 
Member  of  the  Institute  of  France.  For  thus  said 
Rabbi  Abin,  who  apparently  plagiarized  Carlyle 
some  fifteen  centuries  before  the  Scotch  seer  wrote 
his  ''Heroes  and  Hero  Worship:"  "He  who  sits  at 
the  festive  board  at  which  the  true  sage  and  scholar 
is  entertained,  enjoys  a  foretaste  of  that  bliss  which 
man  experiences  by  direct  communion  with  the 
Divine."  It  is  in  such  moments  of  grace  that  genius 
relaxes  into  geniality,  and  elaborate  learning  expands 
into  wit  and  esprit,  and  deep  thought  takes  the  shape 
of  that  delightful  and  profitable  proverbial  wisdom 
which  has  created  our  "table-talk  literature,"  and 
of  which  the  speeches  just  delivered  have  given  you 
such  a  fine  specimen. 

The  sense  of  gratification  is  increased  by  the  feeling 
of  gratitude  which  we  all  harbor  towards  the  author 
of  Israel  Among  the  Nations.  As  a  native  of  Rou- 
mania,  I  feel  under  an  especial  debt  of  gratitude 
towards  our  distinguished  guest.  The  troubles  of  the 
Roumanian  Jew  begin  with  perceiving  the  light  of 


*Address  delivered  at   Banquet   in   honor  of  the  late  Anatole 
Leroy-Beaulieu,  May  16,  1904. 


66  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  world.  On  the  very  day  on  which  he  receives  his 
name,  by  which  he  is  called  up  to  the  Torah  in  later 
life,  he  loses  his  civil  and  political  rights,  and  becomes 
subject  to  all  sorts  of  restrictive  laws.  On  the  oc- 
casion of  my  first  fight  with  the  boys  of  our  Christian 
neighbors,  I  was  warned  not  to  hit  back,  as  such  a 
presumption  on  my  part  may  bring  serious  misfortune 
upon  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  community.  On 
remonstrating  that  it  is  unfair  that  the  Christian 
boys  should  enjoy  all  immunity  in  their  fights,  I  was 
given  to  understand  that  we  belonged  to  a  people 
which  is  under  the  curse  of  being  a  problem,  and  that 
I  must  wait  for  an  answer  until  the  Jewish  problem 
has  found  its  proper  solution.  Naturally,  I  rebelled 
against  being  a  problem,  and  I  pondered  a  great  deal 
over  its  meaning.  I  was  perhaps  a  boy  of  twelve 
or  fourteen  when  there  fell  into  my  hands  a  Hebrew 
translation  of  Josephus'  Contra  Apion,  which  I  read 
with  great  interest,  though  it  was  only  partially 
understood  by  me,  and  I  well  remember  that  I  won- 
dered whether  our  Christian  neighbors  had  ever  read 
"Apion,"  and  whether  this  might  not  be  the  cause  of 
their  ill-will  against  us.  I  must  say  to  their  honor 
that  they  were  not  addicted  to  the  reading  of  books, 
and  that  they  were  quite  original  in  their  hatred  and 
Jew-baiting,  but  those  were  still  the  days  when 
French  influence  was  predominant  on  the  shores  of 
the  Danube.  When  matters  assumed  dangerous 
proportions,  there  used  to  come  messages  from  the 
West,  echoing  the  voice  of  God  and  humanity  as 
revealed  unto  His  servants  who  inaugurated  the 
French  Revolution,  which  made  our  neighbors  under- 


REBELLION  AGAINST  BEING  A  PROBLEM          67 

stand  that  there  is  still  a  Providence  in  the  world 
watching  even  over  the  destiny  of  the  Jew. 

With  the  year  1870,  the  reign  of  blood  and  iron 
began.  Humanity  was  gradually  deposed.  A  new 
generation  arose  which  knew  not  the  traditions  of 
the  French  Revolution  and  the  "fifth-beast  of  Daniel" 
was  let  loose.  Hatred  and  malice  and  envy  and  bru- 
tality of  the  worst  kind  were  set  free  against  a  de- 
fenseless people.  But  what  was  worse,  was  that  all 
these  brutal  instincts,  till  then  held  at  bay  by  reason 
of  public  opinion,  were  raised  to  the  dignity  of  an 
"ism,"  and  the  term  "Anti-Semitism"  was  invented. 
The  Jewish  problem  became  more  complicated 
every  day,  and  a  large  literature  was  created.  In- 
stead of  being  a  mere  religious  problem,  we  suddenly 
discovered  ourselves  to  be  also  an  ethnological  prob- 
lem, an  economic  problem,  a  social  problem,  a  psycho- 
logical problem,  and  ever  so  many  more  problems. 
I  need  hardly  describe  to  you  under  what  torture 
the  Jew  is  when  wading  through  this  degraded  and 
degrading  literature.  It  is  actual  vivisection,  without 
the  relief  of  anaesthetics.  Some  Mohammedan  theo- 
logians are  said  to  have  seriously  discussed  whether 
women  have  a  soul.  These  anti-Semitic  scribblers 
took  it  for  granted  that  we  have  no  soul,  no  sense 
of  honor,  no  feelings  of  dignity,  and  were  quite 
astonished  when  we  showed  signs  of  resentment. 

You  may  then  realize  what  a  relief  it  was  to  come 
upon  the  work  Israel  Among  the  Nations.  It  is  a 
noble  book.  It  is  written  in  a  thoroughly  scientific 
spirit.  It  is  not  the  Jew  who  constitutes  the  problem 
for  the  author.  It  is  rather  the  phenomenon  that  the 


68  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

Jew  was  made  to  constitute  a  problem  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Just  as  a  scientific  investigator 
examines  into  the  causes  of  an  epidemic,  our  author 
subjects  to  an  analysis  the  symptoms  of  the  spiritual 
malady  that  has  afflicted  humanity.  Jew  and 
Christian  alike  are  arraigned  before  his  tribunal. 
The  Jews  do  not  escape  censure.  Indeed  we  are 
not  faultless.  We  raise  no  claim  to  perfection.  But 
one  always  has  the  feeling  that  "those  are  the  wounds 
inflicted  by  a  friend."  In  Jewish  angelology,  the 
Angel  Michael  figures  as  "An  Angel  of  Letters," 
or  as  they  expressed  it,  the  Prince  of  Wisdom,  but 
he  is  described  at  the  same  time  as  the  friend  and  the 
advocate  of  Israel.  The  savant  Leroy-Beaulieu  is 
a  great  man  of  letters  in  the  best  and  the  widest 
sense  of  the  word,  but  what  he  accomplished  as  an 
advocate  of  Israel,  he  has  shown  in  the  book  just 
named.  He  not  only  attempts  to  reconcile  us  with 
the  rest  of  the  world,  but  also  with  ourselves,  or  with 
that  section  of  the  Jewish  community  which  forms 
our  particular  problem.  It  is  a  Prince  of  Wisdom 
who  offers  us  this  wise  counsel  with  regards  to 
our  problem: 

"Some  of  the  Jewish  emigrants,"  he  says,  "have 
been  obviously  degraded  and  corrupted  by  centuries 
of  oppression.  Many  years — perhaps  one  or  two 
generations — will  be  needed  to  raise  their  moral 
plane,  to  imbue  them  with  a  sense  of  honor  and 
dignity.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  believe  that  this 
moral  uplifting  can  be  facilitated  by  detaching  them 
from  their  religion.  On  the  contrary,  the  least  praise- 
worthy Jews  that  I  have  met  have  generally  been 


REBELLION  AGAINST  BEING  A  PROBLEM          69 

'de-judaised'  Jews,  those  who  had  ceased  to  observe 
the  Mosaic  law." 

As  a  student  of  Jewish  literature,  it  was  only 
natural  that  I  should  be  eager  to  learn  the  opinion  of 
this  great  man  of  letters  on  the  various  productions 
of  Jewish  genius.  An  after-dinner  speech  is  not  a 
fit  occasion  to  enter  into  a  learned  discourse.  But 
one  general  remark  will  not  be  out  of  place.  My 
perusal  of  Israel  Among  the  Nations  impressed  me 
as  if  M.  Leroy-Beaulieu,  who  is  himself  a  pious 
Christian,  feels  some  anxiety  about  the  fate  of  the 
Old  Testament,  under  these  attacks  by  the  "higher" 
and  "lower"  anti-Semitism.  To  his  comfort,  and  to 
the  comfort  of  all  gathered  here,  let  me  say  that  I 
am  very  hopeful  in  this  respect.  Perhaps  I  may 
reproduce  here  the  following  story  from  the  Reverend 
Edward  Everett  Hale's  book,  "Lowell  and  His 
Friends:" 

"I  am  not  sure,"  our  late  Senatorial  Chaplain 
says,  "that  this  story  of  those  days  is  quite  decorous 
enough  for  print.  But  I  will  risk  it.  Professor 
Calvin  Ellis  Stowe,  who  was  a  classmate  of  Long- 
fellow's, told  me  that  in  the  early  days  of  '61,  he  met 
Longfellow  in  the  streets  of  Boston.  Both  of  them 
were  in  haste,  but  Longfellow  had  time  enough  to 
ask  if  the  Andover  gentlemen  were  all  alive  to  their 
duty  to  the  nation.  Stowe  said  he  thought  they 
were,  and  Longfellow  said,  'If  the  New  Testament 
won't  do,  you  must  give  them  the  Old/  ' 

This  is  not  said  in  disparagement  of  the  New 
Testament.  All  that  I  desire  to  suggest  is  that  the 
Old  Testament  is  an  elemental  force  of  morality  which 


70  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

humanity  may  neglect  for  a  while,  but  with  which  it 
cannot  dispense  for  any  length  of  time.  We  shall 
never  cease  to  profit  by  the  Old  Testament  as  long  as 
there  exists  a  sense  of  duty,  and  we  shall  return  to  it 
whenever  the  need  of  the  Divine  Imperative  will  be 
felt  deepest.  As  to  the  later  developments  of  Hebrew 
literature,  we  must  not  forget  that  very  little  is 
known  of  it.  We  must  recollect  that  the  knowledge  of 
Post-Biblical  Hebrew  literature  is  still  in  its  infancy. 
The  magnificent  work  Les  Rabbins  Francais,  which 
we  owe  to  the  French  nation,  has  revealed  only  a 
small  part  of  it.  Jewish  literature  is  eminently  a 
religious  literature  with  a  Golden  Legend  of  its  own, 
and  a  continuous  record  of  the  experience  and  strug- 
gles of  beautiful  souls.  But  unfortunately  most  of 
these  litterateurs  who  have  made  it  their  main  occu- 
pation in  life  to  acquaint  the  world  with  this  literature 
and  the  men  who  have  created  it,  have  not  yet  out- 
grown their  rationalistic  stage.  Being  mainly  devoted 
to  what  I  may  call  a  bourgeois  gospel  or  a  bourgeois 
Torah  and  a  Philistine  conception  of  the  universe, 
they  were  lacking  in  sympathy  and  depth  of  religious 
feeling,  and  devoid  of  all  appreciation  of  mysticism 
and  those  qualities  which  make  for  saintliness  and 
holiness.  What  I  always  admired  in  Renan  was  not 
so  much  his  Life  of  Jesus,  which  is,  indeed,  largely 
antiquated  now,  or  his  History  of  the  People  of  Israel, 
in  which  one,  after  having  studied  the  works  of 
Graf,  Wellhausen,  Kuenen,  Stade  and  other  "fathers 
of  the  holy  church  of  higher  criticism,"  finds  little 
that  is  entirely  new  and  original — what  I  admired 
most  in  him  was  his  essay  on  Francis  of  Assisi,  where 


REBELLION  AGAINST  BEING  A  PROBLEM          71 

he  showed  himself  a  master  in  the  art  of  religion, 
and  proved  that  his  liberal  tendencies  have  not  ob- 
scured his  judgment  upon  saints  and  saintliness, 
though  he  saw  the  weak  points  both  in  their  character 
and  in  their  logic.  We  have  the  saints,  but  we  are 
still  lacking  in  Renans. 

Another  hint  offered  us  for  our  guidance  by  our 
learned  author  is  contained  in  the  following  passage. 
After  paying  us  the  compliment  that  we  are  a  ' 'pro- 
phetic people,"  M.  Leroy-Beaulieu  says,  "Were  the 
Jew  and  the  Christian  equally  faithful — the  one  to 
the  Gospel  and  the  other  to  the  Torah — the  points 
of  difference  between  them  would  be  fewer  than  those 
of  resemblance."  These  are  fair  stipulations  to  which 
all,  both  Jews  and  Christians,  could  subscribe  with  a 
good  conscience,  and  it  is  for  a  reconciliation  on  such 
terms  of  loyalty  to  our  pasts  and  devotion  to  our 
religions  that  peace  is  desirable.  An  American  writer, 
whose  name  escapes  me,  records  the  following  pleas- 
antry from  Colonial  times. 

"A  youth  among  the  Friends  wished  to  espouse  a 
fair  Puritan  maiden ;  but  the  Quakers  disapproved  his 
marrying  out  of  their  society,  and  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  his  marrying  into  theirs;  so  in  despair  he 
thus  addressed  her:  'Ruth,  let  us  break  from  this 
unreasonable  bondage.  I  will  give  up  my  religion, 
and  thou  shalt  give  up  thine;  and  we  will  marry  and 
go  into  the  Church  of  England,  and  go  to  the  devil 
together!" 

I  hope  that  both  Ruth  and  her  sweetheart  are  in 
some  parlor  in  Heaven.  There  are  many  mansions 
in  the  House  of  our  Father,  but  I  tell  you  frankly 


72  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

that  I  desire  no  bond  of  unity  on  the  condition  of 
our  going  to  the  devil,  either  Jew  or  Christian.  The 
terms  of  M.  Leroy-Beaulieu  are  such  that  we  all  go 
to  Heaven,  where  we  shall  meet  him.  But  there  is 
no  hurry  for  such  a  meeting.  This  can  wait  "bis 
ueber  hundert  und  zwanzig  jahr,  zu  gesund,"  as  the 
Jewish  expression  is — and  so  let  us  all  raise  our  glasses 
and  drink  to  the  happiness  of  the  author  of  "ISRAEL 
AMONG  THE  NATIONS." 


THE  RECONCILIATION  OF  ISRAEL.* 

THE  occasion  for  which  we  have  gathered  today 
in  these  academic  precincts,  is  a  most  solemn 
one.  It  forms  an  epoch  both  in  the  history  of  the 
reorganized  Seminary,  and  in  the  life  of  those  to 
whom  I  have  just  handed  these  Rabbinical  diplomas. 
Two  years  are  a  short  period — indeed  too  short — in 
the  history  of  an  institution.  But  it  must  be  pointed 
out  that  the  gentlemen  who  graduated  today  had 
pursued  their  theological  studies  under  the  guidance 
of  competent  teachers  before  the  reorganization  of 
the  Seminary  took  place,  some  here,  and  some  else- 
where, and  it  is  only  in  view  of  this  fact  that  my 
colleagues  and  myself  felt  able  to  grant  them  these 
diplomas.  But  we  may  say  with  the  Scriptures, 
"God  has  done  graciously  with  me,  for  I  have  all — 
all  of  which  an  Institution  of  learning  could  wish 
for:  a  splendid  building,  a  great  library,  an  excellent 
teaching  staff,  and  largely  attended  classes."  We 
had  in  these  two  years  experience  enough  to  justify 
us  in  the  policy  which  the  Seminary  has  pursued 
from  its  very  beginning;  and  that  is,  that  its  mission 
is  to  stand  for  Jewish  life  and  Jewish  thought.  I 
have  so  often  enlarged  upon  the  meaning  of  these 
two  terms  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  any 
comment  upon  them.  In  my  Inaugural  Address  I 
have  explained  the  meaning  of  these  terms,  and  I 

*Address   delivered    at    the    first    Graduating   Exercises   of   the 
Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America,  June  5,  1904. 


74  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

shall  not  dwell  upon  them  to-day.  I  may  remark, 
however,  that  our  experiment  to  confine  the  teaching 
in  the  Seminary  to  post-graduates,  that  is,  men  who 
have  taken  their  B.  A.  degree,  did  not  prove  such  a 
failure  as  some  prophesied.  It  is  true,  that  not  a 
week,  I  may  say,  has  passed  in  the  life  of  this  Seminary 
in  which  I  was  not  compelled  to  refuse  admission  to 
applicants  unable  to  comply  with  our  entrance  re- 
quirements. But  there  is  no  help  for  this.  We  must 
insist  that  our  institution  be  conducted  on  a  scien- 
tific basis.  There  is  no  way  of  training  men  in  any 
department  of  scholarship  conducted  in  a  scientific 
and  methodical  way  without  preliminary  preparation 
afforded  by  such  studies  as  are  commonly  included 
under  the  term  of  "a  liberal  education." 

It  is  only  by  proceeding  on  the  lines  mapped  out 
for  us  by  Zunz,  Krochmal,  Rappaport,  Frankel,  and 
others,  that  traditional  Judaism,  built  up  on  the 
broad  basis  of  science  and  history,  can  ever  hope  to 
become  a  force  and  to  bring  about  that  reconciliation 
among  the  parties  to  which  every  well-wisher  of 
Israel  is  looking  forward. 

We  consider  it  also  important  that  the  Rabbi 
should  have  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  master- 
pieces of  English  literature,  both  in  prose  and  in 
verse.  This  is  the  only  means  of  understanding  and 
making  ourselves  understood  by  our  fellow-country- 
men. And  the  Rabbi,  as  a  representative  of  the  com- 
munity, should  always  prove  the  best  means  of  bring- 
ing about  this  mutual  understanding. 

This  brings  me  to  the  real  subject  of  my  address 
to-day,  which  is  to  give  a  few  words  of  advice  to  those 


THE  RECONCILIATION  OF  ISRAEL  75 

who  are  about  to  enter  upon  their  sacred  callings  as 
Rabbis  in  Jewish  communities.  It  is  recorded  in 
ancient  Jewish  literature  that  when  the  congregation 
delegated  the  man  to  step  before  the  Ark  and  to 
perform  the  service,  they  did  not  say  unto  him, 
"Come  and  pray,"  but,  "Deliver  our  battles;  ac- 
complish our  reconciliation."  Delivering  battles  and 
accomplishing  reconciliation  was  the  mission  of  the 
spiritual  representatives  of  Israel  in  olden  times,  and 
this  should  be  your  mission,  my  friends,  when  you 
step  before  the  Ark.  That  "Life  means  War,"  is  an 
old  adage,  but  you  find  the  spiritual  life  to  be  no  less 
so.  In  your  capacity  as  pastors  you  will  have  to  wage 
war  against  many  an  evil,  rampant  in  large  cities, 
the  battles  against  which  should  be  inspired  by  the 
words  of  the  minister.  I  say  "inspired"  advisedly, 
as  I  do  not  think  it  altogether  fitting  that  the  Rabbi 
should  engage  in  the  office  of  the  public  agitator  or 
moral  detective.  "You  cannot,"  it  is  an  old  saying, 
"perform  the  part  of  the  broom  without  getting 
soiled  at  the  same  time;"  and  the  Rabbi  should  be 
above  every  taint  and  impurity.  You  will  have  to 
deliver  battles  against  what  the  old  Jews  called  the 
"Mekatreg"  (the  Perennial  Accuser),  or  what  we  would 
call  the  savage  instincts  of  hatred  and  jealousy, 
which,  under  various  disguises  and  under  all  sorts  of 
pretentious  titles,  rise  against  us  in  every  generation. 
Some  ancient  Jewish  teacher  maintained  that  Israel, 
in  the  course  of  its  life  as  a  nation,  has  only  enjoyed 
one  day  of  peace.  This  is  indeed  a  bold  statement. 
But  I  may  say  without  being  guilty  of  exaggeration 
that  anybody  who  watched  the  literary  productions 


76  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

in  the  fields  of  history,  philosophy  and  theology  which 
appeared  during  the  last  generation,  will  find  that 
there  is  seldom  a  book  in  which  we  are  left  entirely 
at  peace,  and  which  does  not  contain  some  charge 
against  Israel  or  his  religion  in  one  shape  or  another. 
You,  as  the  scholars  of  the  community,  will  meet 
with  the  same  experience,  and  it  will  be  your  duty  to 
defend  Israel  against  these  unjust  attacks.  You  will 
also  have  to  hold  up  principles  which  by  the  very 
fact  of  their  catholic  spirit  and  their  aiming  at 
reconciliation  may  easily  become  the  subject  of  attack 
by  extreme  parties.  With  regard  to  this  latter,  I 
in  no  way  wish  you  to  constitute  yourselves  into  a 
sort  of  Synagoga  Militans,  and  to  widen  the  gap 
which  is  already  deep  enough  to  divide  Israel  into 
regular  sects.  The  rule  of  action  in  such  cases  is: 
do  your  duty,  state  your  principles  clearly,  and  for 
the  rest,  remember  the  Talmudical  saying,  4<Silence 
of  a  Babylonian  testifies  to  his  noble  descent."  This 
is  the  only  way  to  accomplish  reconciliation. 

But  chief  among  those  you  will  have  to  fight  will 
be  your  own  selves.  R.  Bachya  ben  Pakudah  gave 
us  the  wise  counsel:  "If  you  want  to  praise,  praise 
God;  if  you  want  to  blame,  blame  yourself."  I  am 
afraid  that  we  do  not  always  follow  this  counsel. 
The  Midrash  tells  us  that  when  Elijah  said,  "I  have 
been  very  jealous  for  the  Lord  of  Hosts  that  the 
children  of  Israel  have  forsaken  Thy  covenant," 
God  said  unto  him,  "Well,  this  is  My  covenant,  not 
thine."  The  prophet  then  continued  to  say,  "They 
have  thrown  down  Thy  altars,  and  slain  Thy  prophets 
with  the  sword."  Whereupon  God  said  unto  him, 


THE  RECONCILIATION  OF  ISRAEL  77 


"These  are  My  altars  and  My  prophets:  What 
does  it  concern  thee?"  At  last  Elijah  said,  "And  I. 
even  I  only  am  left,  and  they  seek  my  life  to  take  it 
away  from  me."  The  rejoinder  was,  "Let  the  mouth 
which  denounces  Israel  be  crushed."  Thereupon  he 
was  removed  from  the  office  of  prophecy,  which  was 
transferred  to  Elishah,  the  son  of  Shaphat.  Of  course, 
there  was  no  tradition  about  this  dialogue  between 
God  and  Elijah.  What  the  Rabbis  meant  to  convey 
by  this  paraphrase  of  I  Kings,  19  :  10  was,  that 
leaders  representing  spiritual  institutions,  great  as 
they  may  be,  are  but  rarely  free  from  a  certain  taint 
of  selfishness.  They  are  thus  tempted  to  confuse  the 
cause  for  which  they  stand  with  their  own  selves, 
or  even  to  place  their  selves  above  the  cause.  The 
temptation  is  the  greater  and  the  easier  to  satisfy 
among  us  who  are  still  in  need  of  an  established  tra- 
dition and  wanting  in  a  general  public  opinion  in 
matters  spiritual.  Under  such  conditions,  the  leader 
is  sometimes  apt  to  consider  his  own  person  as  the 
source  of  all  authority,  and  to  act  on  the  principle, 
"Le  Judaisme  cest  moi"  (I  am  Judaism). 

My  friends,  beware  of  such  a  mistake,  and  wage 
war  against  yourself  when  such  temptations  come 
upon  you.  Neither  you,  nor  I,  nor  even  your  Pres- 
idents or  Parnassim  to  come,  are  Judaism.  It  is  not 
your  covenant,  and  they  are  not  your  prophets.  We 
are  all  only  humble  servants  of  Judaism.  In  the 
narrative  of  Moses'  first  call  we  read,  "And  God 
said  moreover  unto  Moses,  thus  shalt  thou  say  unto 
the  children  of  Israel:  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers, 
the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God 


78  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

of  Jacob  hath  sent  me  unto  you."  (Exod.  3:15.) 
Let  this  Scriptural  verse  serve  as  a  test  to  you  whether 
you  preach  Judaism  or  yourselves.  When  your  mes- 
sage is  not  any  longer  addressed  to  the  children  of 
Israel,  or  when  you  cannot  any  longer  say  with  a 
good  conscience  that  it  is  the  God  of  your  fathers 
who  sent  you — in  other  words,  when  you  have  arrived 
at  the  conviction  necessitating  your  breach  with  the 
Past,  and  compelling  you  to  confess  that  the  Present 
is  only  to  form  a  preamble  to  a  Future  Universalism, 
with  the  consequent  final  absorption  and  extinction 
of  the  children  of  Israel — then  be  sure  that  you  will 
not  accomplish  our  reconciliation,  and  that  honesty 
and  uprightness  impose  silence  upon  you,  for  you 
have  no  message  any  longer. 

It  is  further  indispensable  that  your  message  shall 
be  clear  and  concise.  But  you  will  never  obtain 
this  readiness  unless  you  follow  the  rule  laid  down 
by  the  Rabbis,  "Let  thy  spirit  not  be  so  overbearing 
as  to  venture  to  say  anything  in  public  before  thou 
hast  thought  over  the  matter  between  thee  and  thy- 
self three  or  four  times."  You  have  never  given  me 
occasion  to  think  that  you  will  fail  in  your  duty  by 
overbearance ;  but  there  is  sometimes  a  tendency 
among  young  men  to  rely  too  much  upon  the  spiritual 
dowry  they  bring  with  them  from  their  Alma  Mater. 
This  is  bad  economy,  and  leads  to  intellectual  bank- 
ruptcy. To  succeed  in  becoming  life-long  teachers,  as 
every  minister  is  bound  to  be,  you  must  agree  to 
become  at  the  same  time  life-long  learners.  "How 
came  it  about,"  we  read  in  the  Sifre,  "that  Israel 
has  become  petty  and  dull-brained?  Because  they 


THE  RECONCILIATION  OF  ISRAEL  79 

were  not  building  up  in  the  words  of  the  Torah." 
Universities  and  seminaries  can  only  impress  you  with 
the  immensity  of  the  task  before  you,  and  make  you 
feel  the  shortcomings  of  your  attainments,  and  supply 
you  with  the  basis  of  your  building.  But  as  soon  as 
the  foundations  are  laid,  it  is  for  you  to  complete 
the  work  which  the  Seminary  has  begun.  And  unless 
you  are  satisfied  to  remain  small  and  mediocre — not  to 
use  the  harsher  term  of  the  Sifre — you  should  all  your 
life  "be  fixing  seasons  for  the  study  of  the  Torah." 
On  this  occasion  allow  me  to  also  call  your  atten- 
tion to  another  point  which  is  very  much  at  my  heart. 
You  are  all  young  men,  and  it  may  easily  happen 
that  the  one  or  the  other  among  you  will  be  elected 
as  an  assisting  or  associate  minister  of  an  older 
Rabbi.  I  have  noted  with  sorrow  that  such  positions 
are  very  seldom  productive  of  the  desired  happiness 
to  the  parties  concerned.  The  young  minister, 
coming  fresh  from  college,  brimful  of  life,  and  seeking 
for  an  outlet  for  his  energies,  is,  I  fear,  not  always 
inclined  to  treat  his  colleague  with  the  consideration 
due  to  him.  He  looks  upon  him  as  one  who  has  al- 
ready passed  the  "dead  line,"  as  the  expression  is, 
and  whose  advice  can  be  ignored  without  any  det- 
riment to  the  congregation.  My  friends,  God  pays 
"measure  for  measure,"  and  to  such  a  one  the  punish- 
ment will  be  that  he  will  grow  old  one  day  himself 
and  will  learn  that  zeal  and  enthusiasm  are  only  of 
value  when  they  are  balanced  by  experience  and 
sound  judgment,  only  to  be  acquired  by  mature  age 
and  after  many  a  bitter  disappointment.  One  must 
never  forget  the  injunction  of  the  Scriptures.  "Thou 


80  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

shalt  rise  up  before  the  hoary  head,  and  honor  the 
face  of  the  old  man ,  and  fear  thy  God :  I  am  the  Lord . ' ' 
You  all  know  the  term  "B'nai  Torah,"  "The  children 
of  the  Torah,"  as  applied  to  the  students  of  the  Law, 
but  you  will  please  Mother  Torah  best  if  you  treat 
your  older  brothers  with  brotherly  love.  And  now, 
let  me  hope  that  you  will  always  remain  faithful  child- 
ren both  to  Mother  Torah  and  to  this  Alma  Mater. 
If  I  have  any  further  wish  to  express,  it  is  that  this 
Alma  Mater  which  has  introduced  you  to  Mother 
Torah  will  maintain  a  permanent  place  in  your  affec- 
tions, and  that  you  will  give  us  proofs  of  your  devo- 
tion to  this  institution,  and  loyalty  to  the  principles 
we  have  attempted  to  inculcate,  as  often  as  the 
occasion  may  rise,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  these 
relations  of  devotion  and  loyalty  will  be  mutual. 
We  shall  always  watch  your  career  with  interest, 
and  shall  always  be  ready  to  be  as  helpful  to  you  as 
we  can,  and  let  our  combined  efforts  be  of  such  a 
nature  that  we  can  say,  "From  you  and  me  (or  rather, 
the  institution  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent) 
will  ascend  praise  to  the  Most  High." 


ALTAR  BUILDING  IN  AMERICA.* 

IN  THE  weekly  lesson  read  yesterday  in  the  syna- 
gogue, both  Israel's  hopes  and  Israel's  fears  find 
supreme  expression.  From  these  chapters  we  will 
select  for  our  meditation  today  the  following  intro- 
ductory verses  from  the  twenty-seventh  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy : 

"1.  And  Moses  with  the  elders  of  Israel  com- 
manded the  people,  saying,  Keep  all  the  command- 
ments which  I  command  you  this  day. 

********* 

"4.  Therefore,  it  shall  be  when  ye  be  gone  over 
Jordan,  that  ye  shall  set  up  these  stones,  which  I 
command  you  this  day,  in  mount  Ebal,  and  thou 
shalt  plaister  them  with  plaister. 

"5.  And  there  shalt  thou  build  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord  thy  God,  an  altar  of  stones;  thou  shalt  not  lift 
up  any  iron  tool  upon  them. 

"6.  Thou  shalt  build  the  altar  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  of  whole  stones;  and  thou  shalt  offer  burnt 
offerings  thereon  to  the  Lord  thy  God. 

"7.  And  thou  shalt  offer  peace  offerings,  and 
shalt  eat  there,  and  rejoice  before  the  Lord  thy  God. 

"8.  And  thou  shalt  write  upon  the  stones  all  the 
words  of  this  Torah  very  plainly."  (Deut.  27:1-8.) 


*Address  delivered  at  the  consecration  of  the  reconstructed 
Synagogue  of  Congregation  Agudath  Jeshurun,  Indianap- 
olis, Ind.,  and  the  Installation  of  the  first  graduate  of 
the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America,  Rabbi  Charles 
I.  Hoffman,  August  28,  1904. 


82  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

The  building  of  an  altar  for  the  purpose  of  wor- 
ship was  thus  a  sacred  duty  incumbent  upon  Israel 
the  moment  they  had  come  to  "the  rest  and  the 
inheritance,"  as  the  Holy  Land  is  called  in  the  Bible. 

And  Israel  remained  conscious  of  the  fact  of  the 
imperativeness  of  this  duty  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  its  long  and  checkered  history.  Whereso- 
ever the  Jew,  the  eternal  wanderer,  found  rest,  though 
not  always  an  inheritance,  there  an  altar  was  erected, 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  Lord,  the  God  of 
Israel.  Thus,  as  far  back  as  a  thousand  years  ago 
when  the  dispersion  of  Israel  covered  a  much  smaller 
area  than  at  the  present  day,  an  ancient  Jewish  teacher 
could  with  justice  apply  the  Psalmist's  words:  "Their 
line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  their 
words  to  the  end  of  the  world,"  to  the  synagogues 
and  the  Houses  of  Interpretation  in  which  the  Law 
of  God  was  taught  to  the  people.  Our  own  times 
where  the  dispersion  of  Israel  extends  to  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  earth,  more  and  more  vindicate  the 
interpretation  of  this  sage.  If  the  synagogues  and 
Houses  of  Interpretation  were  marked  on  the  map, 
they  would  be  found  as  universal  and  world  encircling 
as  mountain  and  river,  everywhere  lending  color, 
individuality  and  life  to  our  globe.  Verily,  "From 
the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  thereof,  the 
Lord's  name  is  praised." 

Israel  in  America  has  particularly  distinguished 
itself  in  this  holy  work  of  altar-building.  The  Talmud 
speaks  of  certain  commandments  which  Israel 
received  in  joy,  and  at  all  times  joyfully  fulfilled. 
Considering  the  comparatively  short  period  since 


ALTAR  BUILDING  IN  AMERICA  83 

this  country  of  ours  was  opened  to  civilization,  the 
number  of  places  of  worship  erected  under  these 
skies  by  both  Jew  and  Christian  proves  altar  building 
to  be  an  especial  and  favorite  duty  of  the  American 
people,  received  in  joy  from  the  very  beginning,  and 
to  this  day  joyfully  continued.  I  have  heard  of  a 
famous  Jewish  scholar  in  Europe  who  in  his  vacation, 
would  retire  to  the  most  isolated  nooks  of  the  Car- 
pathians or  ascend  the  loftiest  summits  of  the  Alps, 
there  to  perform  his  devotions  and  thus  hallow  a 
new  spot  on  earth  to  the  service  of  Almighty  God. 
Similar  feelings  must  evidently  have  animated  the 
American  people  in  their  unprecedented  spiritual 
annexations. 

The  first  settlers  in  this  country  were  mostly  men 
who  had  left  their  native  land  for  conscience'  sake, 
despairing  of  the  Old  World  as  given  over  to  the 
powers  of  darkness,  despotism  and  unbelief.  And  I 
can  quite  realize  how  they  must  have  gloried  in  the 
idea  of  being  chosen  instruments  of  Providence  who 
were  to  restore  the  spiritual  equilibrium  of  the  world 
by  the  conquest  of  new  spheres  of  religious  influence 
and  their  dedication  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God. 

As  a  Jew  coming  from  the  East  of  Europe,  where 
my  people  are  trodden  down,  where  seats  of  Jewish 
learning  and  Jewish  piety  are  daily  destroyed,  I  am 
greatly  animated  by  the  same  feelings  and  am  com- 
forted to  see  the  New  World  compensating  us  for 
our  many  losses  in  the  Old.  I  rejoice,  therefore,  at 
the  privilege  of  being  with  you  on  this  solemn  occa- 
sion. The  words  of  the  benediction,  "Blessed  art 
Thou,  O  Lord  our  God,  King  of  the  universe,  who 


84  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

hath  kept  us  in  life  and  hath  preserved  us  and  enabled 
us  to  reach  this  season,"  rise  to  my  lips,  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Omnipresent  and  with  the  consent 
of  this  holy  congregation  I  declare  this  building 
"Holiness  to  the  Lord!" 

We  are  now  prepared  for  the  minuter  considera- 
tion of  our  text. 

"And   thou  shalt  write  upon   the  stones  all   the 
words  of  the  Torah  very  plainly."     The  stones  are 
erected,  and  at  this  moment  have  been  dedicated  to 
the  service  of  God.     But  bricks  and  mortar,  marble 
pillar  and  gilded  domes  do  not  make  an  altar.    What 
constitutes   an   altar   are   the   words   of   the   Torah, 
which  are  engraved  on  the  very  stones,  which  influence 
the  lives  of  the  worshipers  and  convert  their  homes 
into  places  of  worship.     The  verse  in  Exodus  20:24, 
also   containing   injunctions   regarding   the   altar,    is 
paraphrased  by  the  great  Hillel  as  if  God  were  saying 
to  man,  "If  thou  wilt  come  unto  My  house,   I  will 
come    into    thy   house."      "The    word    of   our    Lord 
endureth  forever."     This  is  a  divine  promise.     But 
if  after  frequent  visits  to  places  of  worship,  you  have 
experienced  nothing  of  the  nearness  of  God  in  your 
houses,  then  you  may  safely  doubt  whether  you  have 
really  been  in  a  house  of  God.     It  is  the  home  which 
is  the  final  and  supreme  test  of  the  altar.     A  syna- 
gogue,  for  instance,   that  teaches  a  Judaism  which 
finds  no  reverberating  echo  in  the  Jewish  home,  awak- 
ens  there   no   distinctive   conscious   Jewish   life,   has 
failed  in  its  mission,  and  is  sure  sooner  or  later  to 
disappear  as  a  religious  factor  making  for  righteous- 
ness and  holiness.     It  may  serve  as  a  lecture  hall  or 


ALTAR  BUILDING  IN  AMERICA  85 

a  lyceum,  or  as  a  place  to  which  people  in  their 
ennui  repair  for  "an  intellectual  treat;"  but  it  will 
never  become  a  place  of  worship,  a  real  altar  for 
acceptable  sacrifices,  bestowing  that  element  of 
joy  in  God,  the  Simhah  shel  mizwah  of  our  Rabbis, 
which  is  the  secret  and  strength  of  Judaism. 

This  is  a  test  applicable  to  all  ages  and  to  all 
countries;  to  the  New  World  as  well  as  the  Old. 
There  is  nothing  in  American  citizenship  which  is 
incompatible  with  our  observing  the  dietary  laws,  our 
sanctifying  the  Sabbath,  our  fixing  a  Mezuzah  on 
our  doorposts,  our  refraining  from  unleavened  bread 
on  Passover,  or  our  perpetuating  any  other  law 
essential  to  the  preservation  of  Judaism.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  now  generally  recognized  by  the 
leading  thinkers  that  the  institutions  and  observ- 
ances of  religion  are  part  of  its  nature,  a  fact  that  the 
moribund  rationalism  of  a  half  century  ago  failed  to 
realize.  In  certain  parts  of  Europe  every  step  in  our 
civil  and  social  emancipation  demanded  from  us  a 
corresponding  sacrifice  of  a  portion  of  the  glorious 
heritage  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  fathers.  Jews  in 
America,  thank  God,  are  no  longer  haunted  by  such 
fears.  We  live  in  a  commonwealth  in  which  by  the 
blessing  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Fathers  of 
the  Constitution,  each  man  abiding  by  its  laws,  has 
the  inalienable  right  of  living  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience.  In  this  great, 
glorious  and  free  country  we  Jews  need  not  sacrifice 
a  single  iota  of  our  Torah;  and,  in  the  enjoyment 
of  absolute  equality  with  our  fellow  citizens  we  can 


86  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

live  to  carry  out  those  ideals  for  which  our  ancestors 
so  often  had  to  die. 

Another  criterion  of  the  true  altar,  according  to 
our  Rabbis,  is  that  its  mission  is  peace,  Shalom. 

The  main  function  of  Shalom  consists,  as  a  great 
Jewish-Spanish  thinker  teaches,  in  creating  harmony 
and  unity  in  all  manifestations  of  life,  so  that  every 
discordant  note,  either  in  action  or  in  thought,  is 
made  impossible.  "The  ways  of  the  Torah  are  ways 
of  pleasantness,  and  all  its  paths  are  peace"  (Shalom), 
and  none  of  these  ways,  traversing  all  the  relations 
of  man,  both  to  his  Maker  and  to  his  fellow  men, 
can  be  neglected  without  injury  to  body  and  soul. 
Thus  a  Jew,  who  is  most  particular  in  the  fulfilment 
of  the  ritual  laws,  but  is  less  observant  of  the  por- 
tions of  the  Torah  commonly  described  as  ethical 
and  moral,  is  certainly  a  disturber  of  the  peace  of  the 
King  of  Kings,  and  has  committed  an  offense  for 
which,  as  you  know,  Heaven  has  renounced  the 
prerogative  of  granting  pardons,  unless  full  redress 
is  first  made.  And  his  offence  is  the  greater  as  the 
discordant  note  will  have  a  jarring  effect  on  all  the 
community,  causing  dismay  and  resentment  in  every 
quarter,  for  which  all  his  co-religionists  will  be  made 
to  suffer. 

Shalom  further  implies  the  establishment  of  sound 
and  amicable  relations  with  other  communities,  so 
that  they  can  all  work  in  full  harmony. 

I  understand,  from  various  sources,  that  the 
State  of  Indiana  has  not  less  than  eighteen  Jewish 
congregations,  all  zealous  for  the  glory  of  God  and 
active  in  the  cause  of  Judaism.  "The  Lord  God  of 


ALTAR  BUILDING  IN  AMERICA  87 

your  fathers  make  you  a  thousand  times  as  many 
more  as  you  are." 

Now  Shalom,  like  Charity,  or  Zedakah,  begins 
at  home,  and  I  hope  that  it  will  be  in  your  co-operation 
with  the  sister  synagogues  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood that  the  effects  of  this  blessed  work  will  be 
first  seen.  But  this,  naturally,  is  only  the  beginning. 
These  relations  of  Shalom  must  extend  further  to 
the  whole  of  the  Keneseth  Israel,  the  Congregation 
of  Israel.  Judaism  has  no  geographical  limits.  It  is 
as  great  as  the  world,  and  as  wide  as  the  universe,  and 
you  must  avoid  every  action  of  a  sectarian  or  of  a 
schismatic  nature,  calculated  to  loosen  the  ties 
between  you  and  your  brethren  scattered  over  our 
globe.  In  olden  times  the  synagogues  and  the  houses 
of  interpretation  occasionally  served  as  places  offering 
accommodation  to  travelers.  We  have  now  different 
means  of  providing  hospitality.  But  nothing  must  be 
done  in  the  synagogue  which  would  deter  a  Jew  from 
seeking  spiritual  shelter.  Our  synagogues  are,  and 
must  remain,  as  of  old,  "the  tents  of  Jacob,  and  the 
dwelling  place  of  Israel." 

The  last  words  of  our  text,  baer  heteb,  demanding 
that  the  words  on  the  stones  of  the  altar  be  lucidly 
explained,  gave  rise,  as  you  know,  to  the  School  of 
Sopherim,  the  scribes  whose  office  it  was  to  read  the 
Book  of  the  Law  of  God  distinctly,  giving  the  sense 
and  causing  the  poeple  to  understand  the  reading.  In 
time  this  activity  resulted  in  the  various  Targumim, 
the  versions  in  the  Aramaic  vernacular  of  Onkelos 
and  Jonathan  ben  Uzziel,  and  into  the  Greek  of 
Aquila,  a  pupil  of  R.  Akiba.  The  mission  of  the 


88  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

modern  Sopherim  would  accordingly  be  to  explain 
the  words  of  the  Torah,  the  prophets,  the  Psalmists 
and  the  sages  in  the  vernacular  of  today — which  in 
this  country  is  the  English  language.  I  can  quite 
understand  the  attachment  some  of  us  feel  toward  the 
German-jargon,  or  patois — call  it  what  you  will- 
in  which  for  so  many  centuries  Jewish  mothers  wrote 
their  Techinoth  (supplications),  and  which  is  still 
spoken  by  such  a  large  portion  of  Jewry.  But  let 
us  beware  lest  we  attach  any  sacredness  to  this 
dialect.  America,  some  one  rightly  remarked,  is  the 
grave  of  languages.  No  foreign  language,  be  it  ever 
so  rich  in  great  masterpieces  of  literature  survives 
a  single  generation  in  this  country.  The  children  of 
the  immigrant  who  visit  our  public  schools  soon 
compel  their  parents  to  speak  English.  It  would 
thus  be  a  sin  to  attach  the  fortunes  of  our  great 
literature  to  the  fortunes  of  this  language,  which  is 
a  mere  accident  in  our  history,  doomed  to  die,  and 
is  dying  before  our  very  eyes.  We  cannot,  we  dare 
not,  endanger  the  Judaism  of  our  children  by  making 
a  virtue  of  what  may  have  once  been  an  unfortunate 
necessity,  but  at  present,  thank  God,  is  becoming  an 
impossibility. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell 
here  at  length  on  the  vital  importance  of  Hebrew,  the 
Sacred  tongue.  It  is  the  great  depository  of  all  that 
is  best  in  the  soul-life  of  the  Congregation  of  Israel. 
Without  it  we  will  become  a  mere  sect,  without  a 
past,  and  without  a  literature,  and  without  a  proper 
Liturgy,  and  severed  from  the  great  Tree  which  is 
life  unto  those  that  cling  to  it.  Hellenistic  Judaism 


ALTAR  BUILDING  IN  AMERICA  89 

is  the  only  one  known  to  history  which  dared  to  make 
this  experiment  of  dispensing  with  the  Sacred  Lan- 
guage. The  result  was  death.  It  withered  away 
and  terminated  in  total  and  wholesale  apostasy  from 
Judaism.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  There  is 
no  future  in  this  country  for  a  Judaism  that  resists 
either  the  English  or  the  Hebrew  language. 

In  the  course  of  the  ages  the  scribe  of  old  became 
the  Rabbi  of  today.  He  reads  and  expounds  the  Law 
at  the  solemn  convocations  in  the  synagogues,  applies 
it  to  the  every-day  needs  and  problems  besetting 
the  lives  of  the  worshipers,  and  perpetuates  it  by 
teaching  it  diligently  to  the  children  of  the  com- 
munity under  his  guidance.  My  friends,  it  is  now 
my  pleasant  duty  to  introduce  to  you  your  Rabbi, 
my  friend  and  disciple,  Charles  Isaiah  Hoffman, 
whom  the  Faculty  of  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary 
of  America  has  recently  found  worthy  of  such  a 
high  and  holy  office.  He  will  cause  the  very  stones 
of  his  edifice  to  preach  to  you  loyalty  to  our  Torah. 
He  will  become  the  Meturgeman,  the  Interpreter 
to  this  community  of  the  ancient  Jewish  truth; 
his  aim  will  ever  be  to  bring  the  future  generations 
under  the  wings  of  the  Schechinah. 

"May  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon 
us;  establish  Thou  the  work  of  our  hands  upon  us; 
yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  establish  thou  it.  Amen." 


ZIONISM:     A  STATEMENT.* 

THERE  is  a  story  told  of  a  German  Jew  of  the 
older  generation  that  when  his  friends  came  to 
him  about  the  beginning  of  the  ' 'eighties"  of  the  last 
century,  and  asked  what  he  thought  of  these  new 
attacks  on  the  Jews,  he  looked  rather  astonished,  and 
said,  "They  are  not  new;  they  are  the  old  ones."  I 
may  say  with  equal  justice  that  the  attacks  on  Zion- 
ism which  have  come  lately  from  press  and  pulpit 
are  not  new.  They  have  been  refuted  ever  so  many 
times,  and  have  been  as  often  repeated.  Lest,  how- 
ever, my  ignoring  direct  challenges  would,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  old  rule,  "Silence  is  tantamount  to 
admission,"  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  I  have  at  last 
become  converted  by  the  arguments  of  our  opponents, 
I  will  state  here  clearly  the  reasons  for  my  allegiance 
to  Zionism.  I  wish  only  to  premise  that  I  am  no 
official  expounder  of  Zionism.  I  am  not  claiming 
or  aspiring  to  the  role  of  leadership  in  this  movement. 
The  following  remarks  have  only  the  value  of  repre- 
senting the  opinion  of  one  of  the  rank  and  file,  stating 
clearly  his  attitude  towards  this  movement,  though 
he  believes  that  he  reflects  the  views  of  a  great  number 
of  fellow  Zionists. 

Zionism  is  an  ideal,  and  as  such  is  indefinable. 
It  is  thus  subject  to  various  interpretations  and  sus- 
ceptive of  different  aspects.  It  may  appear  to  one 
as  the  rebirth  of  national  Jewish  consciousness,  to 
*First  published  in  pamphlet  form,  December  28,  1906. 


92  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

another  as  a  religious  revival,  whilst  to  a  third  it 
may  present  itself  as  a  path  leading  to  the  goal  of 
Jewish  culture;  and  to  a  fourth  it  may  take  the  form 
of  the  last  and  only  solution  of  the  Jewish  problem. 
By  reason  of  this  variety  of  aspects,  Zionism  has 
been  able  to  unite  on  its  platform  the  most  hetero- 
geneous elements;  representing  Jews  of  all  countries, 
and  exhibiting  almost  all  the  different  types  of  culture 
and  thought  as  only  a  really  great  and  universal 
movement  could  command.  That  each  of  its  repre- 
sentatives should  emphasize  the  particular  aspect 
most  congenial  to  his  way  of  thinking,  and  most 
suitable  for  his  mode  of  action,  is  only  natural. 
On  one  point,  however,  they  all  agree,  namely,  that 
it  is  not  only  desirable,  but  absolutely  necessary, 
that  Palestine,  the  land  of  our  fathers,  should  be 
recovered  with  the  purpose  of  forming  a  home  for 
at  least  a  portion  of  the  Jews,  who  would  lead  there 
an  independent  national  life.  That  the  language 
of  the  leaders  was  sometimes  ambiguous  and  not 
quite  definite  in  the  declaration  of  this  principle  is 
owing  to  the  boldness  of  the  proposition  and  the 
environments  in  which  these  leaders  were  brought  up, 
where  everything  distinctly  Jewish  was  in  need  of 
an  apology,  rather  than  to  any  doubt  about  the  final 
aim  of  Zionism,  as  conceived  in  the  minds  of  the  great 
majority  of  Zionists.  Nor  was  it  strange  that  some 
backslidings  should  occur,  and  that  in  moments  of 
despair,  counsels  of  despair  should  prevail,  con- 
sidering the  terrible  crises  through  which  we  have 
passed  during  the  last  few  years.  The  great  majority 
of  Zionists  remain  loyal  to  the  great  idea  of  Zion  and 


ZIONISM:    A  STATEMENT  93 

Jerusalem,  to  which  history  and  tradition,  and  the 
general  Jewish  sentiment,  point.  It  is  "God's 
country"  in  the  fullest  and  truest  sense  of  the  words. 
It  is  the  "Promised  Land"  still  maintaining  its  place 
in  every  Jewish  heart,  excepting  those,  perhaps,  with 
whom  Jewish  history  commences  about  the  year  1830, 
and  Jewish  literature  is  confined  to  the  transactions 
of  the  Rabbinical  synods  of  the  last  century,  and  the 
files  of  PhiYippson'sAllgemeineZeitung  des  Judenthums. 
To  me  personally,  after  long  hesitation  and  careful 
watching,  Zionism  recommended  itself  as  the  great 
bulwark  against  assimilation.  By  assimilation  I  do 
not  understand  what  is  usually  understand  by  Ameri- 
canization: namely,  that  every  Jew  should  do  his  best 
to  acquire  the  English  language;  that  he  should  study 
American  history  and  make  himself  acquainted  with 
the  best  productions  of  American  literature;  that  he 
should  be  a  law-abiding  citizen,  thoroughly  appre- 
ciating the  privilege  of  being  a  member  of  this  great 
commonwealth,  and  joyfully  prepared  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  American  citizenship.  What  I  under- 
stand by  assimilation  is  loss  of  identity ;  or  that  process 
of  disintegration  which,  passing  through  various 
degrees  of  defiance  of  all  Jewish  thought  and  of  dis- 
loyalty to  Israel's  history  and  its  mission,  terminates 
variously  in  different  lands.  In  Germany,  for  instance 
(where  the  pressure  from  above  in  favor  of  the 
dominant  religion  is  very  strong),  it  ends  in  direct 
and  public  apostasy;  in  other  countries  where  this 
pressure  has  been  removed,  it  results  in  the  severance 
of  all  affiliation  with  the  synagogue,  and  is  followed 
by  a  sort  of  "eclectic  religiosity,"  that  coquettes 


94  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

with  the  various  churches,  not  neglecting  even  the 
Christian  Science  Temple,  and  is  consummated  by 
a  final,  though  imperceptible,  absorption  in  the  great 
majority.  This  consummation  will  surely  be  hastened 
by  the  gradual  disappearance  of  social  disparity. 
What  this  process  finally  means  for  Judaism  will 
perhaps  be  best  seen  from  the  following  quotation 
from  Wellhausen's  History  of  Israel.  After  giving 
Spinoza's  oft-quoted  view  regarding  the  possibilities 
of  the  absorption  of  Israel  by  its  surroun  lings, 
the  well-known  Bible  critic  remarks:  "The  persistency 
of  the  race  may,  of  course,  prove  a  harder  thin^  to 
overcome  than  Spinoza  has  supposed;  but,  never- 
theless, he  will  be  found  to  have  spoken  truly  in 
declaring  that  the  so-called  emancipation  of  the 
Jews  must  inevitably  lead  to  the  extinction  of  Ju- 
daism wherever  the  process  is  extended  beyond  the 
political  to  the  social  sphere." 

The  only  comfort  that  Wellhausen  leaves  us  is 
that  "for  the  accomplishment  of  this,  centuries  may  be 
required."  We,  and  the  few  generations  that  are  to 
succeed  us,  are  to  cheerfully  abide  in  this  intermediate 
condition,  and  to  acquiesce  in  the  tortures  of  a  slow 
death;  or,  as  the  great  Alexandrian  sage  in  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  punishment  awaiting  the  specially  wicked, 
expresses  it,  we  are  "to  live  continually  dying," 
and  to  endure  an  unceasing  dissolution  until  death 
will  have  mercy  upon  us  and  will  give  us  the  last 
coup  de  grace. 

It  is  this  kind  of  assimilation,  with  the  terrible 
consequences  indicated,  that  I  dread  most;  even  more 
than  pogroms.  To  this  form  of  assimilation,  Zionism 


ZIONISM:    A  STATEMENT  95 

in  the  sense  denned  will  prove,  and  is  already  proving 
a  most  wholesome  check.  Whatever  faults  may  be 
found  with  its  real  or  self-appointed  leaders,  Zionism 
as  a  whole  forms  an  opposing  force  against  the 
conception  of  the  destiny  of  Israel  and  the  interpre- 
tation of  its  mission,  the  leading  thought  of  which  is 
apparently  the  well-known  epigram,  " Whosoever  shall 
seek  to  gain  his  life  shall  lose  it,  but  whosoever  shall 
lose  his  life  shall  preserve  it."  Zionism  declares 
boldly  to  the  world  that  Judaism  means  to  preserve  its 
life  by  not  losing  its  life.  It  shall  be  a  true  and  healthy 
life,  with  a  policy  of  its  own,  a  religion  wholly  its 
own,  invigorated  by  sacred  memories  and  sacred  en- 
vironments, and  proving  a  tower  of  strength  and  of 
unity  not  only  for  the  remnant  gathered  within  the 
borders  of  the  Holy  Land,  but  also  for  those  who 
shall,  by  choice  or  necessity,  prefer  what  now  con- 
stitutes the  Galuth. 

The  term  Galuth  is  here  loosely  used,  expressing, 
as  I  have  often  heard  it,  the  despair  and  helplessness 
felt  in  the  presence  of  a  great  tragedy.  And  the 
tragedy  is  not  imaginary.  It  is  real,  and  it  exists 
everywhere.  It  is  a  tragedy  to  see  a  great  ancient 
people,  distinguished  for  its  loyalty  to  its  religion, 
and  its  devotion  to  its  sacred  law,  losing  thousands 
every  day  by  the  mere  process  of  attrition.  It  is  a 
tragedy  to  see  sacred  institutions  as  ancient  as  the 
mountains,  to  maintain  which  Israel  for  thousands  of 
years  shrank  from  no  sacrifice,  destroyed  before  our 
very  eyes  and  exchanged  for  corresponding  institu- 
tions borrowed  from  hostile  religions.  It  is  a  tragedy 
to  see  a  language  held  sacred  by  all  the  world,  in 


96  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

which  Holy  Writ  was  composed,  and  which  served  as 
the  depository  of  Israel's  greatest  and  best  thought, 
doomed  to  oblivion  and  forced  out  gradually  from 
the  synagogue.  It  is  a  tragedy  to  see  the  descendants 
of  those  who  revealed  revelation  to  the  world  and  who 
developed  the  greatest  religious  literature  in  existence, 
so  little  familiar  with  real  Jewish  thought,  and  so 
utterly  wanting  in  all  sympathy  with  it,  that  they  have 
no  other  interpretation  to  offer  of  Israel's  scriptures, 
Israel's  religion,  and  Israel's  ideals  and  aspirations 
and  hopes,  than  those  suggested  by  their  natural 
opponents,  slavishly  following  their  opinions,  copying 
their  phrases,  repeating  their  catchwords,  not  sparing 
us  even  the  taunt  of  tribalism  and  Orientalism.  I  am 
not  accusing  anybody.  I  am  only  stating  facts  that 
are  the  outcome  of  causes  under  which  we  all  labor, 
but  for  none  of  which  any  party  in  particular  can  be 
made  responsible,  though  it  cannot  be  denied  that  some 
among  us  rather  made  too  much  virtue  of  a  necessity, 
and  indulged,  and  are  still  indulging  in  experiments  in 
euthanasia.  The  economic  conditions  under  which  we 
live;  the  innate  desire  for  comfort;  the  inherent  ten- 
dency towards  imitation;  the  natural  desire  not  to 
appear  peculiar;  the  accessibility  of  theological 
systems,  possessing  all  the  seductions  of  ' 'newness 
and  modernity,"  patronized  by  fashion  and  even  by 
potentates,  and  taught  in  ever  so  many  universities, 
and  condensed  in  dozens  of  encyclopedias,  are 
sufficient  and  weighty  enough  causes  to  account  for 
our  tragedy.  But,  however  natural  the  causes  may 
be,  they  do  not  alter  the  doom.  The  effects  are  bound 
to  be  fatal.  The  fact  thus  remains  that  we  are  help- 


ZIONISM:    A  STATEMENT  97 

less  spectators  in  the  face  of  great  tragedies,  in  other 
words,  that  we  are  in  Galuth.  This  may  not  be  the 
Galuth  of  the  Jews,  but  it  is  the  Galuth  of  Judaism, 
or,  as  certain  mystics  expressed  it,  the  Galuth  of 
Hannephesh,  the  Galuth  of  the  Jewish  soul  wasting 
away  before  our  very  eyes.  With  a  little  modifica- 
tion we  might  repeat  here  the  words  of  a  Jewish 
Hellenist  of  the  second  century  who,  in  his  grief, 
exclaims:  "Wherefore  is  Israel  given  up  as  a  reproach 
to  the  heathen,  and  for  what  cause  is  the  people  whom 
Thou  best  loved  given  unto  ungodly  nations,  and  why 
is  the  law  of  our  forefathers  brought  to  naught,  and 
the  written  covenants  come  to  none  effect?  And  we 
pass  away  out  of  the  world  as  grasshoppers,  and  our 
life  is  astonishment  and  fear,  and  we  are  not  worthy 
to  obtain  mercy." 

The  foregoing  remarks  have  made  it  clear  that  I 
belong  to  that  class  of  Zionists  that  lay  more  stress  on 
the  religious-national  aspects  of  Zionism  than  on  any 
other  feature  peculiar  to  it.  The  rebirth  of  Israel's 
national  consciousness,  and  the  revival  of  Israel's 
religion,  or,  to  use  a  shorter  term,  the  revival  of 
Judaism,  are  inseparable.  When  Israel  found  itself, 
it  found  its  God.  When  Israel  lost  itself,  or  began  to 
work  at  its  self-effacement,  it  was  sure  to  deny  its 
God.  The.  selection  of  Israel,  the  indestructibility  of 
God's  covenant  with  Israel,  the  immortality  of  Israel 
as  a  nation,  and  the  final  restoration  of  Israel  to 
Palestine,  where  the  nation  will  live  a  holy  life  on 
holy  ground,  with  all  the  wide-reaching  consequences 
of  the  conversion  of  humanity  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth — all  these  are  the 


98  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

common  ideals  and  the  common  ideas  that  permeate 
the  whole  of  Jewish  literature  extending  over  nearly 
four  thousand  years,  including  the  largest  bulk  of  the 
Hellenistic  portion  of  it.  The  universalistic  passages 
in  the  Scripture  usually  paraded  by  the  "prophetic 
Jew"  as  implying  the  final  disappearance,  or  extinc- 
tion of  Israel,  are  in  every  case  misquotations  torn 
from  their  context,  or  ignoring  other  utterances  by 
the  same  writer.  Indeed,  our  prophetic  Jew 

"Boldly  pilfers  from  the  Pentateuch: 
And,  undisturbed  by  conscientious  qualms, 
Perverts  the  Prophets,   and  purloins  the   Psalms." 

The  interpretations  smuggled  into  the  passages  are 
just  as  false  and  unscientific  as  the  well-known  Chris- 
tological  passages  extracted  from  the  Old  Testament, 
and  even  from  the  Talmud,  to  be  met  with  in  mis- 
sionary tracts,  composed  especially  for  the  benefit 
of  fresh  converts. 

The  reproach  that  Zionism  is  unspiritual  is  mean- 
ingless. Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  a  notion  abroad 
that  spirituality  is  a  negative  quality.  Take  any 
ideal,  and  translate  it  into  action,  any  sentiment  of 
reverence,  and  piety,  and  give  it  expression  through 
a  symbol  or  ceremony,  speak  of  the  human  yearning 
after  communion  with  God,  and  try  to  realize  it 
through  actual  prayer,  and  you  will  be  at  once  de- 
nounced as  unspiritual.  However,  the  imputation  is 
as  old  as  the  days  when  the  name  Pharisee  became  a 
reproach,  and  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Zionists 
would  be  spared.  In  general,  it  is  the  antinominian 
who  will  tell  you  that  he  is  the  only  heir  to  the  rare 
quality  of  spirituality,  whereas  the  real  saint  is  in 


ZIONISM:    A  STATEMENT  99 

all  his  actions  so  spontaneous  and  so  natural  that  he 
is  entirely  unconscious  of  possessing  spirituality, 
and  practically  never  mentions  it. 

The  Zionists  are  no  saints,  but  they  may  fairly 
claim  that  few  movements  are  more  free  from  the 
considerations  of  convenience  and  comfort,  and  less 
tainted  with  worldliness  and  other  worldliness  than 
the  one  which  they  serve.  Nothing  was  to  be  gained 
by  joining  it.  All  the  powers  that  be,  were,  and  still 
are,  opposed  to  it,  whether  in  their  capacity  as  indi- 
viduals or  as  wealthy  corporations.  The  Zionists 
are  just  beginning  to  be  tolerated,  but  I  remember 
distinctly  the  time  when  adhesion  to  the  cause  of 
Zionism  might  interfere  with  the  prospects  of  a  man's 
career,  the  cry  being,  "no  Zionists  need  apply."  The 
classes  from  which  the  Zionists  were  recruited  were 
mostly  the  poorest  among  the  poor.  College  men  and 
university  men,  more  blessed  with  enthusiasm  and 
idealism  than  with  the  goods  of  this  world,  also 
furnished  a  fair  quota.  But  this  lack  of  means  did 
not  prevent  them  from  responding  most  generously 
to  every  appeal  made  on  behalf  of  the  cause.  They 
taxed  themselves  to  the  utmost  of  their  capacity,  and 
beyond.  I  myself  have  witnessed  cases  in  which  men 
and  women  joyfully  contributed  their  last  earnings, 
foregoing  their  summer  vacations,  for  which  they  had 
been  saving  a  whole  year. 

The  activity  of  Zionism  must  not  be  judged  by 
what  it  has  accomplished  in  Zion  and  Jerusalem — 
where  it  has  to  deal  with  political  problems  as  yet 
not  ripe  for  solution — but  by  what  it  has  thus  far 
achieved  for  Zion  and  Jerusalem,  through  the  awaken- 


100  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

ing  of  the  national  Jewish  consciousness,  notwith- 
standing the  systematic  and  ruthless  efforts  made  in 
the  opposite  direction  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
last  century.  Our  synagogues  and  our  homes  plainly 
show  the  effect.  Zion  and  Jerusalem  have  not  been 
allowed  to  stand  as  a  sad,  glorious  remembrance  of 
a  past,  as  mere  objects  of  pious  sentiment.  Indeed, 
the  astounding  discovery  was  made  that  far  from 
being  considered  as  a  day  of  disaster,  the  Ninth 
of  Ab  has  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  day  of  liberation, 
when  Judaism  threw  off  the  shackles  of  nationalism 
to  congeal  into  a  mere  Church — with  a  ritual  and  a 
body  of  doctrines  to  be  promulgated  some  nineteen 
hundred  years  later.  Unfortunately,  Israel  was 
smitten  with  blindness,  failing  to  understand  its  real 
destiny,  and  in  the  perversion  of  its  heart,  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  observed  the  Ninth  of  Ab  as  a  day  of 
mourning  and  weeping,  of  humiliation  and  fasting, 
thus  wilfully  delaying  its  redemption.  I  have  always 
wondered  that  the  Church  was  not  yet  enterprising 
enough  to  put  up  a  statue  in  gratitude  to  its  benefactor 
Titus,  the  delectus  generis  humani,  representing  the 
goddess  Universa,  with  a  scribe  and  a  priest  cowering 
in  chains  at  her  feet. 

The  work,  accordingly,  in  which  Zionism  had  to 
engage  first,  and  in  which  it  will  have  to  continue  for 
many  years  to  come,  was  the  work  of  regeneration. 
It  had  to  re-create  the  Jewish  consciousness  before 
creating  the  Jewish  state.  In  this  respect,  Zionism 
has  already  achieved  great  things.  There  is  hardly  a 
single  Jewish  community  in  any  part  of  the  globe 
which  is  not  represented  by  a  larger  or  smaller  num- 


ZIONISM:    A  STATEMENT  101 

her  of  men  and  women  acknowledging  themselves  as 
Zionists  and  standing  out  as  a  living  protest  against 
the  tendencies  just  hinted  at.  It  has  created  a  press, 
and  has  called  into  life  a  host  of  lecturers  and  speakers 
propagating  its  doctrines  and  preaching  them  boldly 
to  Israel  all  over  the  world.  It  has  given  the  world 
Asher  Ginzberg,  or,  as  he  is  better  known,  by  the 
pen  name  of  Achad  Ha-am,  one  of  our  finest  intellects 
and  most  original  thinkers;  and  he  is  followed  by  a 
whole  host  of  disciples,  all  of  them  working  under  the 
stimulus  of  the  Jewish  national  ideal,  much  as  they 
may  differ  in  the  Zionistic  aspects  they  happen  to 
emphasize.  It  has  enriched  our  literature  with  a 
large  number  of  novels  and  lyrics,  and  even  distinct 
Zionist  melodies  are  not  wanting.  It  has  further 
called  into  existence  numerous  societies,  whose  aim 
it  is  to  make  the  sacred  tongue  a  living  language 
by  means  of  writing  and  even  conversing  in  it,  while 
in  several  communities  special  schools  have  been 
established  with  the  same  end  in  view.  To  better 
advance  this  end,  a  whole  series  of  Hebrew  primers, 
grammars  and  reading  books  for  the  young  have  been 
produced.  Several  translations  prepared  from  Ger- 
man, French  and  English  works  bearing  on  Jewish 
history  and  cognate  subjects,  all  of  them  calculated 
to  strengthen  religious-national  consciousness,  have 
also  appeared  under  the  inspiration  of  Zionism.  Fore- 
most of  all,  Zionism  has  succeeded  in  bringing  back 
into  the  fold  many  men  and  women,  both  here  and 
in  Europe,  who  otherwise  would  have  been  lost  to 
Judaism.  It  has  given  them  a  new  interest  in  the 
synagogue  and  everything  Jewish,  and  put  before 


1 02  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

them  an  ideal  worthy  of  their  love  and  their  sacrifice. 
Cases  have  come  under  my  notice  where  Jewish  col- 
lege men,  at  a  comparatively  advanced  age,  began 
to  study  the  sacred  language  and  to  repair  to  the 
synagogue,  sharing  both  in  its  joys  and  in  its  griefs, 
some  among  them  encountering  the  displeasure  and 
ridicule  of  their  relatives,  who  were  fanatical  assim- 
ilators  and  who  bring  up  their  children  without 
religious  education  of  any  kind.  Of  course,  back- 
slidings  and  relapses  occur;  but  it  is  an  advantage 
to  Zionism  that  in  its  present  condition,  at  least, 
it  is  all  sacrifice  and  no  gain.  It  holds  out  no  prospect 
to  the  ambitious  and  to  "those  who  exalt  themselves 
to  establish  .the  vision"  of  a  Jewish  state  without 
Jewish  memories,  without  historic  foundation  and 
without  traditional  principles.  The  undesirables 
and  the  impatient  will  thus,  under  one  pretense  or 
another,  leave  it  soon,  and  indeed  are  dropping  out 
already,  so  that  its  purification  of  all  alloy  and  discord- 
ant elements  is  only  a  question  of  a  very  short  time. 
The  taunt  of  retrogression  and  reaction  has  no 
terrors  for  us.  To  insist  on  progressing  when  one  has 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  a  step  forward  means  ruin 
is  sheer  obstinacy.  Unless  we  are  convinced  so  deeply 
of  our  infallibility  that  we  take  every  utterance  of 
ours  as  a  divine  revelation,  and  our  every  action  as 
a  precedent  and  a  tradition,  there  may  come  a  time 
in  our  lives  when  we  may  have  to  return.  As  a 
fact,  Zionism  is  the  natural  rebound  from  an  artificial 
and  overstrained  condition  of  things  which  could 
no  longer  last.  It  is  the  Declaration  of  Jewish 
Independence  from  all  kinds  of  slavery,  whether 


ZIONISM:     A  STATEMENT  103 

material  or  spiritual.  It  is  as  natural  and  instinctive 
as  life  itself,  and  no  amount  of  scolding  and  abuse 
will  prevent  the  reassertion  of  the  Jewish  soul  which 
in  our  unconscious  Zionism  is  an  actual  present-day 
experience,  though  the  expression  given  to  it  takes 
different  shape  in  different  minds.  Moreover, 
Zionism  thoroughly  believes  in  progress  and  develop- 
ment; but  it  must  be  progress  along  Jewish  lines,  and 
the  goal  to  be  reached  must  be  the  Jewish  historic  ideal. 
But,  whilst  Zionism  is  constantly  winning  souls 
for  the  present,  it  is  at  the  same  time  preparing  for  us 
the  future,  which  will  be  a  Jewish  future.  Only  then, 
when  Judaism  has  found  itself,  when  the  Jewish  soul 
has  been  redeemed  from  the  Galuth,  can  Judaism 
hope  to  resume  its  mission  to  the  world.  Everybody 
whose  view  has  not  been  narrowed  by  the  blinkers 
imposed  on  him  by  his  little  wing  or  by  party  con- 
siderations, knows  well  enough  that  it  is  not  only 
traditional  religion  which  is  on  trial.  We  are  on  a 
veritable  volcano  created  by  the  upheavals  of  the 
newest  methods  of  "searching  research,"  which 
respects  as  little  the  new  formulae,  such  as  the  cate- 
goric imperative,  conscience,  the  notion  of  duty  and 
the  concept  of  morality  and  ethics,  as  it  does  creeds 
and  dogmas.  The  disruption  may  come  at  any  mo- 
ment unless  revelation  is  reasserted.  The  declara- 
tion, Freedom  is  our  Messiah,  which  I  have  so  often 
heard,  may  be  good  Fourth  of  July  oratory,  but  it  is 
miserably  bad  theology,  and  worse  philosophy,  hav- 
ing in  view  the  terrible  woes  and  complicated  problems 
besetting  humanity.  Now,  what  happened  once  may 
happen  again,  and  Israel  may  another  time  be  called 


104  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

upon  with  its  mission  to  the  nations.  Under  the 
present  conditions,  however,  we  have  neither  a  de- 
nned mission,  nor  does  any  man  take  this  ' 'mission" 
seriously,  and  the  talk  about  it  is  allowed  to  be  a 
mere  licencia  predicatomm.  But  we  know  that  the 
Bible  which  influenced  humanity  so  deeply  and 
proved  so  largely  instrumental  in  the  partial  con- 
version of  the  world,  arose  in  Palestine  or  in  circles 
which  looked  on  Palestine  as  their  home.  Those  who 
wrote  the  Bible  moved  and  had  their  whole  being 
in  the  religious  national  idea,  and  lived  under  the 
discipline  of  the  Law.  History  may,  and  to  my 
belief,  will  repeat  itself,  and  Israel  will  be  the  chosen 
instrument  of  God  for  the  new  and  final  mission;  but 
then  Israel  must  first  effect  its  own  redemption  and 
live  again  its  own  life,  and  be  Israel  again,  to  accom- 
plish its  universal  mission.  The  passages  in  the  Bible 
most  distinguished  for  their  universalistic  tendency 
and  grandeur  are,  as  is  well  known,  the  verses  in 
Isaiah  and  Micah,  and  there  it  is  solemnly  pro- 
claimed: "Out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and 
the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem." 

Our  sages  have  themselves  given  expression  to 
this  correspondence  between  the  universalistic  and 
the  nationalistic  elements  in  Judaism.  A  solemn 
declaration,  thus  they  declare,  has  the  Holy  One, 
blessed  be  He,  registered:  "I  will  not  enter  the  heav- 
enly Jerusalem,  until  Israel  shall  come  to  the  earthly 
Jerusalem."  Not  in  conflict  but  in  consonance  with 
Israel's  establishment  of  the  divine  institutions  in 
their  full  integrity  in  God's  own  land,  will  be  the 
triumph  in  all  its  glory  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION.* 

MY  Friends:  It  is  now  the  fourth  time  that  we 
meet  in  this  hall  to  participate  in  the  com- 
mencement exercises  of  this  Seminary.  Our  pleasant 
task  will  be  to  do  honor  to  those  to  whom  honor  is 
due,  conferring  the  degree  of  Rabbi  on  some,  the 
degree  of  Doctor  on  others,  and  awarding  prizes  to 
those  who,  by  their  particular  industry  and  devotion 
to  learning  deserve  this  distinction.  It  is,  to  my 
knowledge,  the  first  time  that  the  Seminary  confers 
the  Doctor  Degree  for  work  done,  upon  which  occa- 
sion I  congratulate  both  the  faculty  and  the  direc- 
tors. The  importance  of  this  degree  consists  in  the 
fact  that  it  shows  that  our  students  do  not  rest  sat- 
isfied with  that  title  which  enables  them  to  perform 
the  necessary  functions  in  their  respective  Syna- 
gogues, but  that  they  endeavor  to  continue  their 
studies,  the  foundations  of  which  were  laid  at  the 
Seminary. 

In  a  previous  graduation  address,  I  had  occasion 
to  speak  of  the  various  activities  of  the  Rabbi  and 
the  different  needs  of  the  community  which  a  Rabbi 
is  expected  to  superintend.  I  propose  to  offer  a  few 
remarks  on  this  solemn  occasion  on  the  subject  of 
Talmud  Torah.  By  Talmud  Torah  I  do  not  mean 
the  study  of  Jewish  literature  as  pursued  by  the  Rabbi 
and  the  few  professional  students.  The  Talmud 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Graduating  Exercises  of  the  Seminary, 
June  2,  1907. 


106  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Torah  of  which  I  wish  to  speak  on  this  occasion  is 
the  study  of  the  Torah,  extended  to  the  humblest 
member  of  the  community,  reaching  the  very  babes; 
or,  as  the  term  is  commonly  used  as  a  synonym  of 
the  "iBDn  J"P3  (the  public  school).  In  this  capacity 
the  Talmud  Torah  is  one  of  the  main  objects  for  which 
synagogues  are  built  and  Rabbis  are  appointed. 
Thus,  Judges  5:11  is  paraphrased  by  an  ancient 
Rabbi,  "Here  is  a  small  settlement  in  Israel.  And 
they  rose  and  built  a  synagogue  and  appointed  a 
sage  and  engaged  teachers  for  the  children.  The 
good  example  is  followed  by  another  city  in  its 
neighborhood.  They  also  built  a  synagogue  and  en- 
gaged teachers.  And  so  the  schools  increase  in  Israel, 
in  which  the  righteous  acts  of  the  Lord  are  rehearsed 
even  in  the  very  villages."  The  establishment  of  a 
school  for  children,  or  the  erection  of  the  Talmud 
Torah,  and  equipping  it  with  the  necessary  staff  is 
here  regarded  as  the  main  function  of  the  synagogue. 
This  was  the  rule  which  was  followed  by  Israel 
almost  throughout  its  long  history.  No  community 
was  too  small  to  provide  for  the  instruction  of  the 
young,  and  no  sacrifice  was  too  great. 

How  deeply  this  sentiment  took  root  in  Israel 
may  be  seen  by  the  various  references  to  bequests 
for  the  Talmud  Torah  scattered  over  the  Response,  of 
the  Middle  Ages  and  other  historical  records.  In  a 
Responsum  dating  from  the  sixteenth  century,  men- 
tion is  made  of  a  single  bequest  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand lebenim  for  educational  purposes.  This  would 
be  a  princely  donation  even  in  our  own  times,  con- 
sidering the  purchasing  value  of  money  in  the  six- 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIO  US  ED  UCA  TION  107 

teenth  century,  which  was  about  fifteen  times  as 
much  as  it  is  at  present.  The  first  task,  again, 
which  the  Jewish  community  at  Amsterdam,  entirely 
consisting  of  refugees  from  various  parts  of  Europe, 
set  to  itself  was  the  building  up  of  a  model  school. 
Rabbi  Sheftel  Horwitz,  of  Frankfort,  a  place  more 
distinguished  at  that  period  for  its  piety  and  erudi- 
tion than  for  system  and  method,  shed  tears  of  joy 
when  he  visited  the  school,  with  its  fine  building,  its 
graded  schedule,  and  its  excellent  discipline,  and 
recommended  it  as  a  model  to  his  fellow-countrymen, 
the  German  Jews.  The  community  of  Cracow, 
again,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  after  passing  through 
terrible  epidemics,  took  the  first  opportunity  after 
its  return  to  normal  conditions  to  reorganize  its 
schools,  which,  coinciding  with  the  distress  of  the 
times,  was  only  done  at  a  great  sacrifice  on  the  part 
of  its  members. 

However,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  dwell  here 
upon  the  history  of  the  Talmud  Torah  and  its  various 
improvements,  which  may  easily  be  found  in  a  num- 
ber of  books  dealing  with  this  subject.  All  I  want 
to  urge  is,  first,  that  the  Talmud  Torah  is  an  essential 
adjunct  to  the  Synagogue.  Secondly,  that  it  is  just 
after  great  historical  catastrophes  that  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Talmud  Torah  is  even  more  realized  than 
before,  and  forms  a  main  feature  in  the  programme 
of  the  newly  settled  or  reorganized  congregations. 
The  school  children  are,  as  the  Rabbis  suggest,  the 
very  "flower  and  blossom  of  the  Courts  of  our  Lord," 
so  that  the  synagogue  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Talmud  Torah  in  a  sorely  tried  community  means 


108  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

a  new  pledge  for  the  rejuvenation  of  Israel.  The 
conditions  of  a  great  part  of  Jewry  in  America  are  in 
many  respects  not  dissimilar  to  those  of  the  Amster- 
dam community.  Our  numbers  consist  chiefly  of 
immigrants  fleeing  from  conditions  resembling  those 
of  Europe  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  like  those 
refugees,  we  are  also  engaged  in  the  process  of  the 
creation  of  our  institutions.  Much  has  been  done 
of  which  every  American  Jew  can  be  truly  proud. 
Our  places  of  worship  and  our  charitable  institu- 
tions, which  are  constantly  increasing  in  number 
and  in  weight,  bear  comparison  with  those  of  the 
oldest  communities  in  Europe  and  Asia.  But  there 
is  one  sore  point  which  requires  the  serious  attention 
of  our  leaders,  and  that  is  the  Talmud  Torah.  I  by 
no  means  overlook  the  fact  that  we  are  already  in 
possession  of  institutions  set  apart  for  the  purpose 
of  training  Rabbis  and  devoted  to  the  cause  of  higher 
Jewish  learning.  To  those  already  in  existence,  a 
new  one  is  to  be  added  by  the  munificence  of  the  late 
Moses  A.  Dropsie,  at  Philadelphia,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  experienced  guides  and  trusted  leaders, 
whose  work,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  likewise  contribute 
to  magnify  the  cause  of  Jewish  learning  and  to  make 
it  glorious. 

Yet  it  must  be  stated  that  as  long  as  we  have 
no  proper  Talmud  Torah,  the  higher  learning  will 
always  remain  without  a  basis  and  never  take  root  on 
American  soil.  The  normal  conditions  in  olden  times 
seem  to  have  been  that  of  a  thousand  persons  entering 
the  Talmud  Torah,  the  largest  number  obtained  a 
fair  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  a  smaller  number  became 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIO  US  ED  UCA  TION  109 

acquainted  with  the  Mishnah  and  a  certain  fraction 
even  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Talmud;  whilst  it 
was  only  one  of  a  thousand  who  was  considered 
capable  of  giving  decisions,  or  as  we  would  say,  of 
exercising  the  functions  of  the  Rabbi  in  the  widest 
sense  of  the  word.  We  have  fairly  provided  for  the 
one  in  a  thousand,  but  have  done  very  little  for  the 
remaining  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine.  I  by  no 
means  ignore  the  existence  of  our  Sunday  Schools,  in 
addition  to  a  certain  number  of  Talmud  Torah  schools 
and  a  large  number  of  private  tutors  in  religion,  or 
Melamdim,  but  they  are  quite  out  of  proportion  to 
the  numbers  which  are  left  without  any  religious 
instruction.  In  a  conversation  lately  with  a  gentle- 
man familiar  with  the  statistics  of  New  York,  I 
learned  to  my  surprise  that  there  must  be  at  least 
150,000  Jewish  children  in  New  York,  and  that  the 
provision  for  religious  instruction,  by  rough  calcula- 
tion, hardly  amounts  to  the  relief  even  of  the  third 
part  of  this  number.  These  are  alarming  conditions. 
But  what  is  worse  is  that  we  could  hardly  supply  the 
deficiency  even  if  we  had  the  will,  for  we  are  still 
to  a  large  extent  lacking  in  everything  indispensable 
for  the  building  up  of  the  Talmud  Torah. 

The  first  difficulty  under  which  we  labor  is  the 
great  dearth  of  trained  teachers.  The  old  private 
tutor,  or  Melamed,  is  an  impossibility  in  this  country 
for  any  length  of  time.  Judging  by  results  which 
held  good  for  many  centuries,  it  would  be  hazardous 
to  say  that  his  method  was  entirely  wrong.  However, 
great  as  the  results  may  have  been  to  which  he  can 
point  in  former  generations  and  under  different  con- 


110  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

ditions,  it  is  not  likely  that  he  will  be  able  to  main- 
tain his  status  much  longer.  Neither  his  medium  of 
instruction  nor  his  method  is  to  be  recommended 
in  the  case  of  boys  brought  up  in  an  American  public 
school.  It  is  especially  his  medium  of  instruction 
which  is  a  thing  impossible  in  this  country,  and  sooner 
or  later  it  must  give  way  to  the  English  language, 
the  language  of  our  fellow-citizens,  the  language  of 
the  public  schools,  and  the  language  of  all  other 
institutions  of  learning.  The  American  teacher,  with 
his  knowledge  of  the  English  language  and  his 
familiarity  with  the  best  educational  methods,  will 
thus  in  the  end  prove  to  be  the  only  fit  person  to 
instruct  also  in  religion,  but  unfortunately  he  is  not 
always  sufficiently  equipped  with  a  knowledge  of 
Hebrew  things  in  general  and  the  Hebrew  language 
in  particular,  to  enable  him  to  accomplish  his  duties 
in  a  satisfactory  manner.  A  thorough  and  sound 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  is  an  indispensable  qualification 
of  every  teacher  in  a  Jewish  religious  school.  It  is 
the  sacred  language,  it  is  the  language  of  the  Bible,  it 
is  the  language  of  the  Prayer  Book  and  the  despository 
of  all  the  sublimest  thoughts  and  noblest  sentiments 
that  Israel  taught  and  felt  for  more  than  three  thousand 
years.  It  is  the  tie  that  unites  us  with  millions  of 
worshippers  in  the  same  sacred  language,  who  are 
our  brothers  and  our  brethren  in  spite  of  all  the 
latest  theological  discoveries  and  ethnological  hypoth- 
eses. It  is  the  natural  language  of  the  Jew  when 
in  communion  with  his  God ;  he  divines  more  than  he 
is  able  to  explain.  Translations  are  a  poor  makeshift 
at  best,  and  more  often  a  miserable  caricature.  For 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIO  US  ED  UCA  TION  1 1 1 

more  than  twenty-three  centuries  the  world  has  been 
busy  with  the  interpretation  and  translation  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  yet  no  agreement  has  been  reached 
as  to  the  exact  rendering  of  the  fourth  verse  of  the 
sixth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  containing  the  confes- 
sion of  Israel's  creed.  But  the  Jew  reads  the  J?OtP 
^tfW  and  does  know  it.  He  cannot  translate  it,  but 
he  feels  it  and  is  it.  For,  as  the  mystics  have  it,  to 
be  a  thing  is  to  know  a  thing,  and  to  know  a  thing 
is  to  be  a  thing. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  some  well-meaning 
persons  who  maintain  that  the  fate  of  religion  should 
not  be  made  dependent  on  a  certain  language.  The 
real  question  is  what  we  mean  by  religion.  If  we  are 
indifferent  as  to  the  nature  of  the  religion  (confusing 
it  with  religiosity)  any  language  will  do.  It  may 
blossom  out  into  an  ethical  cult,  it  may  develop  into 
the  worship  of  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime,  or  may 
take  the  shape  of  the  Service  of  Man.  Constituted, 
however,  as  human  nature  is,  with  its  hankering 
after  the  mysterious  and  its  tendency  towards  the 
worship  of  Sorrow,  it  is  more  probable  that  this 
"distilled  religion"  will  sooner  or  later  evaporate 
into  a  sort  of  Spiritualism  or  Christian  Science.  Of 
this  possibility  the  signs  are  not  wanting  even  at  the 
present  moment.  But  whatever  shape  it  may  take, 
it  will  certainly  not  be  Judaism.  When  the  last 
sound  of  Hebrew  will  have  disappeared  from  our  syna- 
gogues, the  last  trace  of  Judaism  will  also  have  gone. 

We  must  thus  insist  upon  Hebrew.  But  for  this 
we  require  proper  training  schools.  All  our  means  at 
present  are  of  a  perfunctory  nature  and  accomplish 


1 1 2  SEM IN  A  RY  A  D  DRESSES 

very  little.  The  Seminary  has  with  inadequate  means 
tried  to  cope  with  this  difficulty,  but  I  do  not  think 
that  it  will  ever  accomplish  this  mission  without 
increasing  its  staff  of  teachers  for  this  purpose,  and 
extending  its  curriculum  and  the  number  of  hours  of 
instruction.  But  above  all,  no  training  can  be  perfect 
without  the  help  of  a  model  school  in  which  the  teach- 
ers should  impart  instruction  for  a  certain  number 
of  years  under  the  supervision  of  their  professors. 
The  second  crying  need  is  the  almost  utter  lack 
of  text-books.  Through  some  cause  or  other,  the 
English  language  is  the  poorest  in  this  kind  of  liter- 
ature. We  have  as  yet  no  Jewish  history  fit  to  place 
in  the  hands  of  a  teacher  or  pupil,  no  readers  for  the 
different  grades,  and  no  commentary  to  the  Bible 
written  in  a  Jewish  spirit.  I  am  glad  to  announce 
on  this  occasion  that  the  Jewish  Publication  Society, 
recognizing  this  last  want,  is  now  engaged  in  the  prep- 
aration of  such  a  commentary  as  will  undoubtedly 
have  the  effect  of  bringing  the  Bible  back  to  the  Jew. 
We  must  have  a  whole  series  of  primers  and  readers 
and  text-books  and  histories  extending  at  least  over 
a  course  of  eight  years,  commencing  with  the  Hebrew 
alphabet  and  culminating  somewhere  in  the  later 
Hebrew  literature.  I  cannot  refrain  on  this  occasion 
from  paying  my  tribute  to  our  brethren  in  Russia, 
who  amidst  all  the  persecutions  by  which  these  last 
decades  have  been  marked,  have  produced  a  large 
educational  literature  covering  almost  all  the  subjects 
fit  for  .instruction,  which  excites  the  envy  and  ad- 
miration of  every  student.  It  is  humiliating  to  think 
that  with  all  the  means  at  our  disposal  and  our  various 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIO  US  ED  UCA  TION  113 

societies  constantly  discussing  the  topic  I  am  just 
dealing  with,  we  should  be  in  this  respect  behind 
our  brethren  in  the  East,  the  poorest  among  the  poor, 
and  engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle  with  all  the  powers 
of  darkness. 

But  it  is  only  when  we  have  provided  for  the 
needs  of  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  by  well- 
equipped  training  schools  for  teachers  and  proper 
text-books  in  the  English  language,  fit  to  be  put  in 
the  hands  of  the  so-called  laity,  that  the  mission  of 
the  thousandth  (that  of  the  Rabbi)  will  be  accom- 
plished. Without  this  broad  basis  of  the  congrega- 
tion at  large,  and  its  hearty  co-operation,  the  work 
of  the  Rabbi  will  never  be  effective.  The  knowledge 
of  the  one  will  never  be  able  to  grapple  successfully 
with  the  ignorance  of  the  many.  The  old  saying  was, 
"Knowledge  is  Power."  Paradox  as  it  may  seem, 
everyone  will  admit  that  Ignorance  is  a  greater 
Power — on  the  side  of  destruction.  I  do  not  hesitate 
for  a  moment  to  maintain  that  the  excesses  in  the 
camp  of  Judaism  which  we  witness,  and  this  un- 
ceasing succession  of  spiritual  amputations  which  is 
going  on  before  our  very  eyes,  is  mainly  owing  to  the 
insufficient  acquaintance  with  the  tenets  of  Judaism, 
its  traditions  of  the  past  and  its  aspirations  and  hopes 
for  the  future  on  the  part  of  the  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine.  Never  before  were  the  words  of  the 
Prophet  so  fully  realized,  uMy  people  are  destroyed 
for  lack  of  knowledge:  because  thou  hast  rejected 
knowledge,  I  will  also  reject  thee,  that  thou  shalt  be  no 
priest  to  me :  seeing  that  thou  hast  forgotten  the  Law 
of  thy  God,  I  will  also  forget  thy  children."  (Hos.  4:6) 


1 1 4  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

We  are  laboring  under  the  peculiar  idea  that  we  shall 
benefit  Judaism  by  removing  the  last  vestige  of  the 
Sabbath,  by  abolishing  the  Day  of  Atonement,  or 
robbing  it  of  its  most  essential  features,  by  banishing 
the  Sefer  Torah  from  the  place  of  worship,  and  by 
removing  the  last  shreds  of  the  sacred  language. 
This  seems  to  be  the  programme  of  the  twentieth 
century,  and  this  is  what  we  call  progress  in  Judaism. 
Nay,  we  hail  it  as  hastening  the  day  in  which  "the 
upright  shall  exult,  and  the  saints  triumphantly 
rejoice," — the  day  which  formed  one  of  Israel's 
brightest  visions  and  the  object  of  Israel's  prayers  for 
thousands  of  years.  It  never  occurs  to  us  that  this 
irreverence  for  the  past,  this  perpetual  battering  away 
at  institutions  considered  sacred  by  the  great  majority 
of  mankind,  this  worship  of  individualism  which  in 
most  cases  is  nothing  more  than  thinly  disguised 
selfishness  and  vanity,  and  this  disregard  of  authority 
and  the  utter  absence  of  the  qualities  of  submission 
and  obedience  are,  in  part  at  least,  responsible  for 
the  rampant  materialism  and  unrighteousness  which 
we  all  so  much  deplore. 

A  great  European  thinker  somewhere  remarked, 
"America,  with  its  lack  of  high  culture,  is  the  only 
nation  in  our  day  which  has  been  able  to  furnish  soil 
for  new  religions."  This  is  a  malicious  libel.  A 
country  which  has  given  to  the  world  men  of  the 
stamp  of  Emerson,  Channing,  Lowell,  Motley,  and  so 
many  other  celebrities,  can  in  all  respects  compare 
favorably  with  any  part  of  the  Old  World;  but  I 
cannot  help  saying  that  my  heart  fails  me  when  I 
see  the  mushroom  religions  springing  up  around  us, 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  115 

the  constant  travesties  and  caricatures  of  the  Bible 
which  we  are  witnessing,  and  the  assurance  with  which 
men  offer  their  undigested  thoughts  as  substitutes 
for  religion.  As  to  the  experiments  to  which  Judaism 
is  often  subjected,  the  least  one  can  say  is  that  they 
show  that  our  knowledge  of  religion  and  the  great 
historical  forces  at  work  in  the  spiritual  world  are 
of  an  amateur  order.  Be  an  idea  ever  so  absurd,  be 
it  ever  so  incompatible  with  all  laws  of  history  and 
philosophy,  ever  so  antagonistic  to  the  spirit  of  Ju- 
daism and  its  teachings,  it  will  always  find  a  response 
among  us,  provided  it  has  eloquence  and  smartness 
on  its  side,  and  is  uttered  with  that  certainty  and 
assurance  which  ignorance  alone  can  command. 

My  young  friends,  ere  long  you  will  be  active  in 
Jewish  communities.  Your  activities  will  be  arduous 
and  manifold.  Holiness  as  understood  by  Judaism, 
and  righteousness  as  understood  by  Judaism  and  by 
the  large  bulk  of  humanity  will  be  the  subjects  that 
will  occupy  your  attention.  But  never  forget  the 
Talmud  Torah.  Do  apply  yourselves  to  the  training 
of  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  so  that  they  may 
be  in  time  your  equals  in  the  knowledge  of  Judaism. 
Be  not  afraid  that  a  universal  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  the  important  works  embodying 
Jewish  tradition  and  Jewish  history  will  in  any  way 
curtail  your  authority.  The  Sabbath  preceding  the 
Day  of  Atonement  and  the  one  preceding  the  Passover 
were,  as  you  know,  the  fete  days  of  the  Synagogue, 
when  the  Rabbi  would  give  lengthy  discourses  on 
some  complicated  Halachic  subjects.  Both  the  pupils 
and  the  members  of  the  Congregation  were  permitted 


1 1 6  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

to  take  part  in  the  discussion,  but  none  felt  prouder 
than  the  Rabbi  if  one  of  his  congregants  would  stop 
him  with  the  words,  "Master,  you  have  overlooked 
a  paragraph  in  Maimonides'  Code,"  or,  "Master, 
according  to  your  argument  this  or  that  passage  in 
the  Novelae  of  Rabbi  Solomon  ben  Adereth  would 
be  quite  unintelligible,"  for  such  contradiction  on  the 
part  of  the  so-called  "laity"  showed  that  the  work  of 
the  Rabbi  was  effective,  and  that  he  and  his  pre- 
decessors had  done  their  duty  by  the  community 
with  regard  to  Talmud  Torah.  This  is  the  pride 
which  you  ought  to  cultivate,  and  make  it  the  goal 
of  your  ambition.  It  is  a  poor  sort  of  authority  which 
derives  its  infallibility  from  the  helplessness  of  the 
majority.  The  authority  that  maintains  itself  by 
the  ignorance  of  the  masses  is  not  worth  having. 

One  of  the  most  important  characteristics  of  the 
synagogue  was  its  democratic  constitution,  placing 
everybody  under  the  law  and  making  the  knowledge 
of  the  law  accessible  to  all.  Under  the  law,  we  are 
all  equals;  outside  of  the  law,  or,  as  it  is  called,  above 
the  law,  is  anarchy  and  confusion,  resulting  in  tyranny. 
In  politics,  we  are  overwhelmed  by  the  dragoon;  in 
the  spiritual  world,  we  are  crushed  by  the  talker. 
My  friends,  restore  to  the  synagogue  its  democratic 
spirit.  Remain  in  the  service  of  the  law,  and  do  not 
aspire  to  be  above  the  law.  This  is  not  spirituality; 
this  is  conspiracy.  In  the  synagogue  everybody 
taught,  everybody  learned,  everybody  contributed 
his  or  her  share  in  its  building  up,  in  its  aspect  as  a 
collection  of  institutions  making  for  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  life  in  its  various  manifestations.  To  hand 


PROBLEM  OF  RELIGIO  US  ED  UCA  TION  117 

over  one's  conscience  and  things  most  sacred  to  a 
single  individual,  be  he  ever  so  great,  brands  one  as  a 
"slave  by  his  own  compulsion,"  or  as  indifferent  to 
the  cause  of  religion.  This  is  neither  American  nor 
Jewish.  Remember,  my  friends,  the  words  of  Mai- 
monides:  "The  guarantee  for  the  survival  of  Judaism 
is  the  continuance  of  the  knowledge  of  God's  Torah 
and  the  acquaintance  with  His  word  among  us." 
With  the  disappearance  of  the  Torah,  the  synagogue 
itself  can  become  a  danger  to  itself  and  a  playground 
for  all  the  forces  of  destruction.  It  may  cease  to  be 
a  Beth  Hakneseth,  suggestive  of  the  Keneseth  Israel, 
where  the  spirit  of  Catholic  Israel  dwells,  and  become 
a  Dy  W2  (the  House  of  the  Plebs),  where  multitudes 
enjoy  "intellectual  treats,"  even  at  the  very  expense 
of  Judaism.  Only  knowledge  of  Judaism  can  ward 
off  this  danger.  For  thus  it  is  written: 

"They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my 
holy  mountain:  for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the 


MORITZ  STEINSCHNEIDER.* 

THE  year  1907  brought  many  a  bereavement 
to  the  Jewish  student.  It  is  sufficient  to  men- 
tion here  the  names  of  Solomon  Buber,  the  great 
editor  and  interpreter  of  the  Midrashic  literature; 
Dr.  Adolph  Neubauer,  the  compiler  of  the  catalogue 
of  the  Hebrew  manuscripts  in  the  Oxford  libraries, 
and  Professor  Jacob  Freudenthal,  one  of  the  very 
few  Jewish  students  who  made  the  study  of  (Hellen- 
istic) literature  the  subject  of  their  thorough  re- 
searches. But  the  death  of  none  came  so  unexpectedly 
as  that  of  Moritz  Steinschneider.  That  the  immortal 
Steinschneider  should  ever  die,  that  the  man  whom 
every  Jewish  student  for  more  than  two  generations 
was  in  the  habit  of  consulting  first,  when  approaching 
a  new  subject,  should  ever  be  removed  from  the  stage 
of  his  great  activity,  was  something  for  which  we  were 
hardly  prepared.  He  lived  with  all  of  us,  and  he 
survived  so  many  of  us,  that  one  could  rather  think 
of  having  one's  own  death  some  day  recorded  by 
Steinschneider  in  one  of  his  bibliographical  notices, 
than  to  write  his  obituary. 

Nor  is  this  task  a  very  easy  one,  considering  that 
his  life  extended  over  ninety-one  years,  and  that  it 
-was  all  activity.     As  of  the  great  "scribe  of  the  law," 
it  may  also  be  said  of  him  that  his  vision  never  be- 
came  dimmed,    and    that    his    freshness    never    dis- 


*Paper    presented    at    the    Annual    Meeting    of    the    American 
Jewish  Historical  Society,  1908. 


120  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

appeared  until  his  dying  day.  Moreover,  this  activity 
was  not  confined  to  a  single  branch  of  Jewish  liter- 
ature. His  main  attention  seems  to  have  been  di- 
rected to  the  works  of  the  Jewish  philosophers,  certain 
of  which  he  edited  and  all  of  which  he  fully  described. 
But  this  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  interested 
in  such  subjects  as  the  Jewish  share  in  the  secular 
sciences,  or  the  Jewish  controversies  with  Moham- 
medans and  Christians,  or  the  Jewish  contributions 
to  the  pseudographic  literature  of  the  world  and 
similar  topics. 

In  consideration  of  these  facts,  I  must  refer  you 
for  a  real  appreciation  of  Steinschneider's  genius,  and 
the  importance- of  his  literary  activity,  to  the  admi- 
rable introduction  to  Steinschneider's  Gesammelte 
Werke  by  Drs.  Malter  and  Marx.  Here  only  a  few 
general  remarks  must  suffice.  As  I  have  just  said, 
Steinschneider  lived  ninety-one  years.  His  early 
youth  thus  brings  us  back  to  the  so-called  Measphim 
period,  the  period  of  the  Jewish  rationalists.  These 
were  mostly  recruited  from  Mendelssohn's  disciples, 
or  those  who  believed  themselves  to  be  his  disciples, 
whose  productions  are  embodied  in  the  periodical 
called  Ha-Measeph.  These  publications  are  distin- 
guished by  the  fine  Hebrew  style  in  which  they  were 
written,  which  style,  however,  seems  to  have  been 
meant  to  cover  a  multitude  of  cheap  rationalistic 
platitudes,  appearing  to  us  almost  childish  and  value- 
less. Mendelssohn  was  of  course  their  patron  saint, 
but  they  also  claimed,  as  indeed  many  a  superficial 
theologian  does  to  this  day,  Maimonides  and  a  few 
other  Spanish  Rabbis  as  their  own.  History  was  for 


MORITZ  STEINSCHNEIDER  121 

them  non-existent.  The  few  who  dabbled  in  history, 
such  as  Peter  Beer  and  his  friends,  showed  only  their 
utter  impotence.  Bishop  Stubbs,  the  famous  historian 
of  the  English  Constitution,  made  a  remark  some- 
where that  no  "dissenter"  could  ever  write  a  good 
history  of  the  English  people  and  their  institutions, 
as  for  them  England  only  commences  with  Cromwell 
and  other  heroes  of  the  Reformation.  This  may 
also  be  applied  to  the  Jewish  "dissenters"  and  their 
successors  up  to  date,  with  whom  Jewish  history  only 
begins  with  Mendelssohn.  The  reaction,  or  rather 
progress,  came  soon,  represented  by  such  men  as 
Rapoport,  Krochmal,  and  Zunz,  who,  with  all  their 
admiration  for  Mendelssohn,  knew  that  Jewish 
history  began  somewhere  in  pre-historic  times,  that 
it  was  never  interrupted  by  any  circumstance,  arid 
that  even  the  Middle  Ages,  with  their  long  suffering 
and  the  darkness,  covering  the  greater  part  of  our 
globe,  contributed  their  legitimate  share  of  Jewish 
thought  and  Jewish  activity  to  this  history.  Against 
all  fashion  of  the  time,  Krochmal  showed  how  the 
Talmud,  the  very  bete  noir  of  these  rationalists, 
could  be  made  an  available  source  for  this  history. 
Rapoport  did  the  same  thing  for  the  Responsa  of 
the  Geonim  and  other  mediaeval  productions,  whilst 
Zunz,  among  other  things,  set  himself  to  show  the 
world  what  the  Rabbis  of  the  Franco-German  schools 
contributed  to  Jewish  thought,  both  in  their  com- 
mentaries on  the  Bible  and  the  Talmud.  He  even 
showed  that  there  is  a  great  deal  to  learn  from  the 
Piyutim,  the  liturgical  contributions  of  the  mediaeval 
Rabbis,  who  were  then  the  special  subject  of  abuse 
by  those  who  believed  that  the  depth  of  devotion 


122  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

stands  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  length  of  the  prayers. 
All  these  men  were  attacked  in  their  turn  by  the 
rationalists,  but  truth  and  broadness  of  view  con- 
quered in  the  end.  Even  Abraham  Geiger  largely 
followed  their  lead,  though  he  was  never  able  to 
entirely  forget  that  he  was  the  leader  of  the  opposi- 
tion busy  in  composing  ' 'protocols"  upsetting  history. 

Steinschneider  was,  to  use  a  Talmudical  term, 
"the  fellow-disciple  of  all  these  great  men."  He  learnt 
from  Krochmal,  though  I  am  not  certain  that  he 
ever  saw  him,  but  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Rapo- 
port  in  Prague,  and  was  a  close  and  intimate  friend 
of  Zunz,  whom  he  followed  in  almost  every  detail 
in  his  famous  sketch  of  Jewish  literature,  which  we 
possess  now  in  three  versions,  German,  English  and 
Hebrew.  But,  like  all  "fellow-disciples,"  he  was  not 
a  mere  reproducer  of  the  works  of  his  masters,  but 
supplemented  them  greatly,  and  it  was  this  supple- 
mentary work  which  became  so  important  for  the 
great  majority  of  students. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  Steinschneider's  most 
important  works  aimed  chiefly,  as  Drs.  Malter  and 
Marx  rightly  point  out,  at  showing  the  position  of 
the  Jew  in  the  literature  of  the  world  at  large.  We 
need  here  only  point  to  Steinschneider's  "Contribu- 
tions of  the  Jews  to  Mathematics,"  "Contributions 
of  the  Jew  to  Medicine,"  and  his  work,  "The  Jews 
as  translators  and  interpreters,"  etc.,  but  these  works 
are  chiefly  meant  for  the  specialist  of  the  sciences 
in  question.  The  work  by  which  he  will  after  all  be 
best  remembered,  and  which  has  become  the  Urim 
and  Thummim  of  every  Jewish  student,  is  his  catalogue 
of  the  Bodleian  Library  and  his  other  numerous 


MORITZ  STEINSCHNEIDER  123 

contributions  to  Jewish  bibliography.  The  bibliog- 
rapher is,  as  is  well  known,  the  forerunner  of  the 
historian,  for  it  is  only  when  you  know  the  sources 
of  your  subject  and  their  sequence,  that  you  can  form 
a  notion  of  the  genesis  and  development  of  thought, 
and  this  was  the  great  gift  which  Steinschneider 
bestowed  on  every  one  of  us  in  dozens  of  volumes. 
Let  any  student  who  is  anxious  to  write  about  the 
thought  of  a  given  period,  try  to  dispense  with  Stein- 
schneider, and  he  will  find  out  at  once  how  many 
anachronisms  he  will  commit  in  the  short  space  of 
a  single  generation. 

As  a  bibliographer,  Steinschneider  was  strictly 
' 'objective"  or  impartial.  You  cannot,  with  all  the 
sympathy  in  the  world,  alter  or  interpret  a  single  date 
in  favor  of  a  given  theory  or  of  a  popular  person. 
This  impartiality  is  also  manifest  in  all  his  other 
works,  where  he  deals  more  with  systems  and  theories 
than  with  dates  and  periods.  Indeed,  he  was  so  im- 
partial, that  he  occasionally  became  unjust,  as,  for 
instance,  when  he  only  lately  attacked  his  friend  and 
disciple,  Professor  David  Kaufmann,  on  account  of 
his  using  the  term  Jewish  heroes  and  similar  hyper- 
bolic metaphors.  It  may  also  be  that  Steinschneider 
never  entirely  emancipated  himself  from  the  ration- 
alism of  his  youth,  or  rather  boyhood,  when  there 
was  so  little  sympathy  for  Jewish  heroism  and  so 
little  understanding  of  that  quality  of  Holiness,  a 
distinguished  feature  of  Jewish  great  men  and  Jewish 
great  women,  that  was  entirely  misconceived  and 
misrepresented  by  the  generation  which  followed 
Voltaire.  However,  it  is  not  for  us  of  a  later  genera- 
tion, who  never  knew  the  struggle,  to  criticise  the 


124  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

man  from  whom  we  learned  so  much.  His  peculiari- 
ties and  his  occasional  attacks  on  men  whom  we  admire 
and  revere,  will  soon  enough  be  forgotten.  They  were 
only  accidental  with  him  and  formed  by  no  means 
a  part  of  his  system.  He  fortunately  never  accepted 
any  system  in  its  entirety,  and  never  joined  in  any 
movement.  Nay,  everybody  familiar  with  his  works 
knows  that  he  was  thoroughly  suspicious  of  all  those 
systems  and  movements  in  Bible  criticism  and  inter- 
pretations of  Jewish  history  which  are  now  the  sub- 
ject of  heated  controversy.  He  was  skeptic  enough 
to  question  skepticism  itself,  but  he  left  us  quite 
enough  of  what  is  positive,  constructive  and  instruc- 
tive in  all  departments  of  Jewish  thought  and  Jewish 
literature  to  render  his  name  a  blessing  for  all  time. 
But  it  must  be  a  special  source  of  satisfaction  to  this 
Society,  of  which  Steinschneider  was  an  honorary 
member,  to  know  that  his  name  will  be  particularly 
connected  with  our  great  country.  For,  thanks  to 
the  munificence  of  the  Honorable  Jacob  H.  Schiff, 
Steinschneider's  library  now  forms  a  part  of  the 
collection  of  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of 
America.  His  books  are  full  of  annotations,  contain- 
ing untold  treasures  for  the  Jewish  student.  It  also 
deserves  special  mention  that  it  is  two  American 
scholars,  Dr.  Malter,  of  the  Hebrew  Union  College, 
of  Cincinnati  (now  of  the  Dropsie  College,  Phila- 
delphia), and  Dr.  Marx,  of  the  Jewish  Theological 
Seminary  of  America,  whom  Steinschneider  entrusted 
with  the  edition  of  his  Gesammelte  Schriften  to  appear 
in  five  volumes.  His  memory  will  thus  never  dis- 
appear from  among  the  Jews,  but  will  be  especially 
connected  with  American  Judaism. 


RABBI  AS  A  PERSONAL  EXAMPLE.* 

IT  IS  now  the  fifth  time  that  we  meet  in  this  hall 
to  participate  in  the  commencement  exercises  of 
the  Seminary.  The  pleasant  duty  with  which  we  have 
just  been  occupied  was  to  confer  degrees  upon  seven 
of  our  graduates.  The  labor  was  long,  extending 
over  years,  and  the  work  was  by  no  means  easy, 
covering  a  multitude  of  subjects  demanding  serious 
study  and  close  application,  but  the  reward  has  come 
at  last  in  the  shape  of  degrees  just  conferred — the 
only  reward  in  the  gift  of  the  authorities  of  this 
institution. 

But  my  young  friends,  do  not  flatter  yourselves 
that  your  labors  are  at  an  end.  They  are  only  begin- 
ning. There  is  a  story  of  an  ancient  Rabbi  who 
warned  his  pupils  when  they  were  about  to  enter 
upon  the  performance  of  their  duties,  as  follows: 
"Believe  not  that  I  make  you  masters:  behold,  you 
are  appointed  servants."  The  words  sound  harsh, 
but  they  contain  a  great  truth  which  is  often  over- 
looked in  our  times,  and  that  is — that  no  man  in 
authority  is  greater  than  the  source  whence  his 
authority  is  derived.  The  authority  of  the  Rabbi 
is  derived  from  the  Torah;  he  is  its  servant,  not  its 
master.  He  may  claim  obedience  to  his  teachings 
by  the  authority  of  the  Torah,  or  minn  PD  as 
the  Hebrew  phrase  is,  but  he  has  no  power  over  the 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Graduating  Exercises  of  the  Seminary, 
June  7,  1908. 


126  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Torah.  The  mystical  prayer  Berich  Sh'meh,  read 
in  most  congregations  by  the  Rabbi  before  the  open 
ark,  contains  the  following  solemn  declaration: 

nop  smoi  sin  7-12  Ktrnpi  xn 
rp-nK  -in 


"I  am  the  servant  of  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He, 
before  whom  and  before  whose  glorious  Law  I  pros- 
trate myself  at  all  times."  The  Torah  is  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  Congregation  of  Jacob,  not  the  possession 
of  a  single  individual,  and  the  Rabbi  is  not  only 
responsible  to  his  congregation,  but  to  the  whole  of 
Israel  for  its  preservation  and  perpetuation.  This 
is  indeed  a  most  important  principle  in  the  democratic 
constitution  of  Israel,  which  both  in  the  State  and 
in  the  Synagogue  considers  the  man  holding  a  respon- 
sible office  the  servant  of  the  institution  and  not  its 
master.  He  belongs  to  the  institution,  not  the 
institution  to  him.  And  to  be  the  servant  of  the 
Torah  means  to  labor  in  the  Torah,  to  be  constant 
learners  as  long  as  you  remain  constant  teachers. 

And  be  not  niggardly  in  these  labors,  even  after 
you  have  found  favor  with  your  congregation.  And 
be  not  particularly  exalted  by  the  general  applause. 
In  fact,  you  ought  to  become  a  little  distrustful  of 
yourself  under  such  circumstances.  You  well  know 
that  our  ancient  sages  looked  with  some  suspicion  on 
the  over-popularity  of  the  Rabbi  with  his  community, 
thinking  as  they  did  that  it  might  be  the  result  of  his 
failing  to  admonish  his  flock  in  matters  of  heaven. 

Indeed,  admonition  is  necessary,  for  we  are  now 
in  the  midst  of  a  great  religious  crisis,  which  is 


RABBI  AS  A  PERSONAL  EXAMPLE  127 

occupying  all  thoughtful  minds  in  this  country,  and 
for  which  we  all  are  seeking  a  remedy.  The  Rabbi, 
as  the  spiritual  leader  of  the  community,  will  un- 
doubtedly have  to  take  his  share  in  this  struggle 
against  the  evils  of  the  day,  which  need  not  be  detailed 
here,  and  from  which  we  are  all  suffering.  Both  in 
the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform,  you  will  have  to  raise 
your  voice  against  the  evils  threatening  the  moral 
progress  of  a  country,  which,  by  reason  of  its  free 
institutions,  its  exalted  position  and  great  power  and 
influence,  should  have  become  the  light  of  nations. 
But  you  cannot  rely  much  on  your  voice.  A  sweet 
voice,  a  pleasant  manner  and  agreeable  gestures  are 
no  doubt  helpful  to  the  Rabbi.  So  is  a  rich  vocabu- 
lary and  an  interesting  topic.  The  graces  of  oratory 
and  the  utmost  power  in  your  pulpit  work  will, 
however,  only  then  attain  to  real  efficiency  and  prac- 
tical results  when  the  Rabbi  not  only  says  the  right 
thing,  but  also  when  he  is  the  right  thing.  The  right 
thing  the  Rabbi  should  be  is  well  defined  by  the 
"Book  of  Saints,"  where  we  read,  "The  Rabbis  must 
be  God-fearing  men."  Lest  you  th'nk  the  passage 
just  quoted  a  malicious  innuendo  on  the  sacred  calling 
you  are  about  to  enter  upon,  I  will  remind  you  of 
another  passage  closely  connected  with  it,  "It  is  the 
man  who  possesses  the  virtue  of  the  fear  of  God, 
whose  words  find  a  ready  hearing."  Tested  by  this 
result,  you  will  agree  that  this  virtue  is  not  so  general 
as  commonly  imagined.  People  will  listen  to  you 
willingly  enough  when  your  teaching  is  of  a  negative 
nature.  The  applause  of  the  world  will  seldom  fail 
you  when  you  set  out  on  the  career  of  destruction 


128  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

and  proceed  to  abolish  the  one  or  the  other  law,  and 
startle  the  public  by  some  sensational  paradoxes 
hostile  to  the  teachings  of  Judaism.  And  the  praise 
of  the  thoughtless,  carried  away  by  the  arguments 
of  convenience  and  comfort,  will  even  give  you  credit 
for  depth  of  thinking  and  lofty  spirituality. 

But  try  only  to  engage  in  constructive  work, 
make  the  slightest  attempt  towards  leading  your 
flock  in  the  path  of  positive  Judaism,  and  you  will 
find  out  soon  enough  how  great  the  obstacles  you  will 
have  to  conquer,  and  how  feeble  your  efforts  to  remove 
them.  There  you  will  accomplish  nothing  without 
that  quality  of  D*W  nsiV  "fear  of  God,"  begotten 
by  that  realization  of  the  Divine  Presence  which 
makes  the  Rabbi  not  only  a  Bnn  HfcO  a  "beautiful 
expounder  of  the  Law,"  but  also  a  D^pD  ntfl  a 
"beautiful  observer  of  the  law,"  which  eliminates  all 
self  and  makes  of  man  a  real  servant  of  the  Lord, 
ready  for  all  sacrifice  and  rejoicing  in  it.  To  take 
one  or  two  concrete  cases:  We  are  all  deploring  the 
decay  of  the  Sabbath;  we  constantly  preach  against 
it  and  sit  in  conclave  trying  to  ward  off  the  danger 
to  Judaism  resulting  from  this  desecration.  But  I 
tell  you  frankly  that  the  Rabbi  who  will  use  his 
freedom  of  interpretation  to  explain  the  laws  regarding 
the  Sabbath  in  such  a  way  that  they  should  not  inter- 
fere with  his  own  pleasures  and  comforts,  has  no 
right  to  admonish  his  flock  not  to  make  use  of  the 
same  freedom  of  interpretation  so  as  to  evade  the 
laws  which  interfere  with  their  daily  bread.  The  first 
thing  the  Rabbi  has  to  do  is  to  keep  the  Sabbath 
himself.  Again,  we  constantly  bewail  the  disappear- 


RABBI  AS  A  PERSONAL  EXAMPLE  129 

ance  of  the  Jewish  home,  but  the  Rabbi  who  removes 
all  Jewish  symbols  from  his  house,  and  ignores  all 
the  institutions  making  for  Jewish  life,  is  not  the  man 
to  arrest  in  any  way  the  decay  of  Judaism,  which 
he  is  so  deeply  bemoaning.  The  first  thing  he  will 
have  to  do  is  to  have  a  strictly  Jewish  home  himself. 
This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  share  the  Rabbi 
is  expected  to  take  in  social  questions.  Nothing  is 
easier  than  to  denounce  others  and  to  '  'accelerate" 
public  opinion.  The  role  of  the  agitator  is  played 
to  perfection  easily  enough.  The  morning  papers 
and  the  very  gossip  of  the  street  furnish  you  with 
sufficient  materials.  But  as  long  as  the  Rabbi 
himself  is  not  free  from  all  worldly  ambition,  from 
all  the  vices  of  hunting  after  power  and  cheap  popular- 
ity, his  words  will  not  have  the  slightest  effect.  He 
becomes  in  such  cases  a  mere  actor  for  the  time  being, 
without  any  real  concern  in  the  tragedy  which  he 
conjures  up  and  impersonates. 

It  is  recorded  that  when  a  Rabbi  once  asked  his 
colleague  why  miracles  happened  so  frequently  in 
olden  times  and  occur  so  rarely  now,  the  answer  he 
received  was  that  it  was  different  with  the  men  of 
yore,  who  gave  up  their  lives  for  the  Sanctification 
of  the  Name.  Now,  take  the  history  of  the  world, 
search  the  annals  of  our  race,  and  see  for  yourself 
whether  this  greatest  of  all  miracles,  the  conversion 
of  a  community  to  righteousness,  or  even  the  regener- 
ation of  a  single  individual,  was  ever  effected  by 
oratory  alone,  or  rather  by  the  saintly  men  who 
sacrificed,  as  just  indicated,  their  very  lives  in  the 
service  of  ideas  and  ideals. 


130  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

The  fact  is,  we  are  again  in  need  of  the  sprinkling 
cf  saints  which  alone  possesses  the  secret  of  saving 
humanity.  I  had  occasion  once  to  quote  the  saying 
of  our  ancient  sages  that  when  the  Holy  One,  blessed 
be  He,  saw  that  the  righteous  were  to  be  few,  He 
planted,  or  distributed  them  over  the  various  genera- 
tions. The  righteous  are  apparently  so  few  that  even 
Providence  has  to  be  economical  in  their  use.  Nor 
are  they  of  the  noisy  or  boisterous  kind.  The  descrip- 
tion given  of  them  is:  Their  life  is  even  like  that  of 
Moses,  a  continuous  mourning  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  glory  of  Israel,  at  present  obscured;  a  per- 
petual longing  for  Israel's  salvation,  whilst  their 
activity  forms  "one  long  effort  towards  making  peace 
between  heaven  and  earth.  They  are,  again,  ex- 
ceedingly meek  and  gentle,  never  claiming  thanks  for 
themselves.  They  come  and  go  without  creating 
any  disturbance,  and  they  are  exceedingly  devoted 
to  the  study  of  the  Torah. 

Indeed,  there  is  a  certain  delicacy  about  the  whole 
composition  of  the  saint  which  would  make  him  rather 
timid,  retired  within  himself,  and  shrinking  back  from 
contact  with  the  many.  Yet,  somehow,  his  person 
becomes  the  centre  of  all  beneficial  activities.  Solemn, 
severe  and  even  distant  as  he  may  occasionally 
appear,  his  love  of  God  and  his  love  of  man  is  sure 
to  attract  without  any  visible  effort  on  his  part,  the 
best  and  the  purest  among  us.  But  even  the  less  pure 
element  of  society,  nay,  even  the  decadent  and  de- 
generate, will  only  dread  them,  but  they  will  never 
hate  them.  Even  the  most  abandoned  can  never 
quite  forget  their  heavenly  descent  so  as  to  disasso- 


RABBI  AS  A  PERSONAL  EXAMPLE  131 

ciate  themselves  entirely  from  their  pristine  and  native 
state  and  hate  the  angels.  The  only  misfortune 
is  that  the  evil  one,  as  somebody  put  it,  aware 
of  this  weakness  of  ours  for  our  original  heavenly 
connection,  manages  to  appear  in  the  disguise  of  an 
innocent  cherub. 

Of  supreme  importance  is  the  saint's  devotion  to 
the  study  of  the  Law.  The  old  maxim  ascribed  to 
Hillel,  the  meekest  of  men,  "no  ignorant  person  can 
be  a  saint  or  truly  pious,"  remains  true  notwithstand- 
ing the  holy  terror  felt  at  it  by  a  certain  class  of  theo- 
logians. Indeed,  learning  is  the  only  safeguard 
against  the  just-mentioned  sham  cherubs.  Piety 
without  learning  is  apt,  as  is  shown  by  the  history 
of  so  many  sects,  to  degenerate  into  mere  ranting, 
making  religion  a  caricature  of  itself.  Least  of  all 
is  ignorance  compatible  with  the  office  of  the  Jewish 
minister,  standing  in  the  service  of  the  Synagogue, 
which  from  its  very  appearance  on  the  stage  of 
history,  proclaimed  the  study  of  the  Torah  as  one  of 
its  three  essential  institutions.  It  would  not  even 
injure  the  Rabbi  if  he  should  from  time  to  time  engage 
in  some  scientific  work,  publishing  occasionally  a 
learned  article  on  some  historical  topic,  or  even  editing 
some  ancient  Hebrew  text — in  spite  of  the  glorious 
discovery  made  recently  that  Isaiah  never  indulged 
in  such  vanities  as  a  Doctor's  Thesis,  and  that  Amos 
never  wrote  a  commentary — not  even  to  his  own 
prophecies.  By  the  way,  I  wish  he  would  have  done 
so.  It  would  have  saved  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  I  believe  a  greater  deal  of  Higher  Criticism.  The 
author  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  tells  us  that,  "it  was  not 


132  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

intended  when  man  was  created  that  he  should  give 
confirmation  to  his  good  faith  with  pen  and  ink  and 
such  wise."  This  is  angelic  indeed,  but  humanly 
speaking,  it  was  intended  when  learned  institutions 
were  created,  that  their  graduates  should,  by  some 
scientific  work,  give  confirmation  of  their  continuing 
the  studies  in  which  they  were  initiated  by  their 
alma  mater. 

Of  more  consequence  even  to  the  Rabbi  is  the 
Law-mindedness,  or  Law-conscience,  which  he  will 
acquire  by  his  devotion  to  the  study  of  the  Torah,  in 
which  the  legal  element  is  so  strongly  represented.  It 
is  only,  as  I  believe,  by  such  a  Law-conscience  that 
the  world  will  profit  most  by  the  advice  and  counsel 
of  the  Rabbi.  I  must  explain  a  little  more  clearly. 
During  the  recent  controversy  regarding  the  anti-race- 
track bills  before  the  Legislature,  remarks  were  made 
in  the  press  to  the  effect  that  such  laws  as  designed  by 
the  Governor  (Hughes)  had  an  ' 'Oriental"  air  about 
them.  I  have  not  the  paper  before  me,  but  as  far 
as  I  can  remember,  the  drift  of  the  remark  was  that 
such  legislation  is  an  infringement  of  Christian 
liberty,  and  that  the  whole  tendency  to  regulate  con- 
duct by  legislation  is  a  characteristic  of  Oriental 
despotism,  incompatible  with  the  notion  of  human 
dignity  and  self-government,  as  understood  by  the 
Occidental  man. 

Now,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  here  upon 
the  question  of  Orientalism  and  Occidentalism.  The 
Occidental  man  seems  to  have  entirely  forgotten  that 
he  is  under  indebtedness  for  certain  spiritual  pos- 


RABBI  AS  A  PERSONAL  EXAMPLE  133 

sessions  to  his  brother  of  the  Sunrise;  which  he  cannot 
repay — not  even  with  smokeless  powder  or  long-range 
guns.  Nor  is  it  necessary  for  me  to  dwell  on  the  merits 
of  this  particular  law  now  under  consideration.  In- 
deed, with  the  Jew,  it  will  in  no  way  bear  discussion. 
The  Jew  has  no  other  name  for  gambling  than  the 
old  Scriptural  expression,  'H  rojMP  ''abomination  to 
the  Lord."  What  concerns  us  here  is  the  underlying 
principle  of  Law,  which  divided  us  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  for  more  than  eighteen  centuries.  What  I 
wish  to  impress  upon  you  is  that  it  is  this  conception 
of  law,  of  the  necessity  of  law  in  the  divine  economy 
of  the  universe,  of  the  binding  authority  of  law  and 
the  absolute  sovereignty  and  grace  of  law,  that 
Judaism  is  pre-eminently  fitted  to  assert  and  to  estab- 
lish. Against  this  stronghold,  the  desperate  assaults 
of  the  centuries  and  of  the  creeds  of  the  world  have 
dashed  in  vain.  It  is  this  tendency,  hostile  to  the 
principle  of  authority,  Law  and  obedience,  which  it 
will  be  your  mission  to  combat.  There  are  objects 
which  God  hates,  and  there  are  objects  which  God 
loves,  and  these  objects  are  to  the  Jew  formulated 
into  commandments,  prohibitive  on  the  one  side,  and 
affirmative  on  the  other,  demanding  implicit  obedience. 
God  is  not  a  mere  figurehead.  He  not  only  reigns, 
but  governs.  Everywhere — in  the  temple,  in  the 
judge's  seat,  in  the  family,  in  the  farm,  and  in  the 
market  place — His  Presence  is  felt  in  enforcing  the 
laws  bearing  His  imprimatur,  "I  am  the  Lord,  thy 
God."  Ethical  monotheism  is  a  splendid  phrase. 
Monotheism  is  good,  but  God  is  better.  For  mono- 


134  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

theism  savors  somewhat  of  the  abstract,  of  the  mere 
idea,  a  vague  tendency,  subject  to  what  we  are  pleased 
to  call  our  freedom  of  interpretation.  With  the  Jew, 
God  is  the  only  reality,  or,  as  our  sublime  liturgy 
has  it, 

imp!  DllDl  8113  D'pl  T! 

"A  living  and  enduring  terrible  and  exalted  and  holy 
God."  Ethics  are  good,  but  laws  and  commandments, 
bidden  and  commanded  by  God,  are  better;  and  all 
such  phrases  as  idealism,  spirituality  and  religiosity 
will  avail  nothing  as  long  as  you  omit  to  urge  the  great 
principle  that  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  "in  His  Holiness, 
gave  law  unto  His  people."  Our  Torah  proclaimed  the 
love  of  God  with  heart  and  soul  and  might,  and  the 
world  accepted  it  as  the  consummation  of  its  purpose. 
It  taught  the  love  of  neighbor  as  oneself,  and  the 
world  appropriated  it  as  an  original  inspiration;  but 
together  with  this  Israel  proclaimed  the  love  of  law. 
Psalmist  and  prophet  add  the  law  of  love.  "I  hate 
vain  thoughts,  but  Thy  law  I  love,"  sings  the  Psalmist 
(Psalm  119:113),  and  it  is  through  this  love  and 
adherence  to  law  that  the  love  of  God  and  the  love 
of  fellowman  is  made  effective.  To  urge  this  upon 
your  community  in  all  its  force  and  all  its  significance 
seems  to  me  the  mission  of  the  Rabbi  of  the  present 
generation.  And  it  is  only  by  representing  this 
principle  of  law  and  authority  and  obedience  that 
Judaism  can  again  become  a  factor  in  the  conversion 
of  the  world. 


LECTOR  MEIR  FRIEDMANN.* 

IN  THE  death  of  Lector  M.  Friedmann,  or  as  he 
preferably  signed  himself  in  his  Hebrew  works, 
Meir  Ish  Shalom  (Meir,  Man  of  Peace),  Judaism  has 
sustained  an  irreparable  loss.  The  oft-quoted  excla- 
mation of  an  ancient  Rabbi  at  the  decease  of  his 
colleague,  "When  the  scholar  or  Talmud  Chacham 
dies,  who  can  furnish  us  with  his  substitute?"  could 
nowhere  be  applied  with  more  force  than  to  the  death 
which  Israel  is  now  mourning.  Friedmann  has  no 
substitute;  he  cannot  be  replaced.  For,  this  was  the 
main  characteristic  of  the  man,  that  he  never  reminded 
you  of  anyone  else  but  himself.  No  school  can  claim 
him;  no  party  was  strong  enough  to  force  on  him  its 
label,  though  he  came  in  touch  with  all  schools  and 
all  parties.  He  always  remained,  Meir  Ish  Shalom. 

This  independence  may  have  been  largely  due  to 
the  peculiar  story  of  his  youth.  Briefly  stated,  it  is 
this.  Friedmann  was  born  in  1831  in  the  village  of 
Kraszna,  district  of  Kashau,  Hungary.  Till  twelve 
years  of  age  he  remained  in  this  village,  where  he 
received  his  first  instruction  in  the  Talmud.  He  then 
continued  his  studies  in  the  Yeshiboth,  or  higher 
Talmudical  colleges,  for  which  Hungary  was  distin- 
guished at  that  period.  Of  particular  importance 
was  the  college  at  Unguar,  where  he  studied  under 
the  supervision  of  Rabbi  Meir  Eisenstadt,  who  was 

*Paper   contributed    to   the   American    Hebrew,    December  11, 
1908. 


136  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

a  distant  relative  of  his  mother.  There,  to  use  a 
Talmudic  expression,  he  saw  the  first  sign  of  blessing 
in  his  studies,  but  became  also,  through  the  influence 
of  Eisenstadt,  attached  to  the  teachings  of  the 
mystics  and  the  Chasidim,  and  spent  a  good  deal  of 
his  time  in  fasting  and  other  ascetic  practices.  At 
that  time  he  also  thought  of  emigrating  to  Palestine. 
The  Revolution  of  1848,  however,  prevented  him  from 
carrying  out  his  favorite  plan.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
or  seventeen  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  Bible, 
studying  it  with  the  aid  of  the  German  translation 
and  commentaries  of  Mendelssohn  and  his  school. 
The  Shire  Tifereth  (a  sort  of  Mosaide)  of  Wessely 
became  his  great  model  for  Hebrew  style.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  he  settled  in  Miskolcz,  where  he  received 
his  first  instruction  in  the  German  language,  as  well 
as  in  geography  from  Michael  Heilprin,  perhaps  the 
same  Heilprin  who  afterwards  emigrated  to  this 
country,  in  which  he  became  so  famous.  His  Rabbinic 
diploma,  of  which,  however,  he  never  made  any 
use,  preferring  to  settle  down  as  a  farmer,  he  obtained 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four.  A  great  sorrow  befell  him 
soon,  which  made  him  leave  Hungary  and  emigrate 
to  Vienna,  where  he  arrived  in  the  year  1858.  There 
he  attended  lectures  at  the  University,  but  was  about 
the  same  time  appointed  Lector  in  Bible  and  various 
Rabbinic  studies  in  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  in  which 
capacity  he  was  active  until  his  death.  He  also 
occupied  the  same  chair  in  the  Israelitisch  Theologische 
Lehranstalt,  of  Vienna,  which  was  afterwards  founded. 
His  education  was  that  of  an  autodidact,  and  the 
influences  reaching  into  his  life  of  the  most  contra- 


LECTOR  MEIR  FRIED  MANN  137 

dictory  tendencies.  But  what  would  have  led  in  any 
other  man  of  a  less  marked  individuality  to  dilet- 
tantism and  shallowness  in  his  studies  and  to  deformity 
in  his  character,  blended  in  Friedmann  to  a  harmo- 
nious whole  and  developed  a  personality  of  unique 
charm  and  originality.  The  Yeshiba  and  University 
gave  him  erudition  and  method;  whilst  his  contact 
with  Chasidism  and  his  life  as  a  farmer  provided  him 
with  a  touch  of  saintliness  and  simplicity,  which 
became  marked  features  of  his  nature. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  an  appreciation  of  Lector 
Friedmann's  scientific  work.  He  made  his  first  debut 
with  his  edition  of  the  Sifre  in  1864.  Hardly  a  year 
has  passed  since  then  in  which  he  did  not  enrich 
Jewish  literature  by  one  contribution  or  another, 
extending  over  all  its  departments,  Bible  criticism 
included.  Friedmann's  various  essays  in  the  periodical 
Beth  Talmud,  on  the  order  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
on  the  story  of  the  patriarchs,  as  well  as  his  com- 
mentary on  Samuel  and  Judges,  should  be  read 
by  everyone  who  would  learn  what  a  Jewish  liberal 
Bible  criticism  means.  Only  a  few  months  ago  he 
published  an  old  Rabbinic  text,  Baraitha  d1  Melecheth 
Hammishkan,  with  a  critical  commentary  and  intro- 
duction. Death  itself  found  him  active  in  the  edition 
of  a  critical  text  of  the  Torath  Kohanim,  of  which  he 
sent  me  several  sheets  already  printed  off.  Suffice  to 
remark,  that  he  was  the  pioneer  in  the  art  of  critical 
editions  of  Rabbinic  texts,  and  that  all  his  publica- 
tions became  a  model  in  this  respect  for  other  workers 
in  the  same  field.  His  edition  of  the  Mechilta  in 
particular  formed  an  epoch  in  Rabbinical  exegesis, 


138  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

for  it  not  only  gave  us  the  first  scientific  edition  of 
an  ancient  Rabbinic  text,  in  which  the  Halachah  is 
nearly  as  strongly  represented  as  the  Hagada,  but 
in  the  Introduction  it  also  revealed  to  us  the  pos- 
sibilities of  this  ancient  Midrashic  literature,  and  its 
bearing  upon  the  exegesis  of  the  Bible.  It  was  also 
in  this  Introduction  that  Friedmann  maintained 
that  there  existed  another  Mechilta  composed  in  the 
schools  of  Rabbi  Simon  ben  Yochai,  a  forecast  which 
was  afterwards  amply  verified  by  the  importation  of 
Yemen  MSS.  and  various  discoveries  in  the  Genizah. 

Great,  however,  as  he  was  a  scholar,  he  was  even 
greater  as  a  Jew  and  a  man.  Notwithstanding  his 
strict  scientific  methods,  which  demanded  from  him 
absolute  obedience  to  method  and  precision,  he  could 
never  sink  his  own  personality  to  the  level  which  turns 
learning  into  mere  manual  work,  keeping  your  note 
books  in  good  order  and  putting  your  references  in 
their  proper  places,  or  what  some  savant  called, 
"Zettelgelehrsamkeit."  And  whilst  he  endeavored 
to  elucidate  the  text  under  discussion,  he  would  also 
seek  to  widen  your  horizon  in  matters  not  strictly 
connected  with  the  subject  in  hand.  In  the  labyrinth 
of  all  references  and  cross-references  to  parallel  pas- 
sages, textual  emendations  and  verbal  explanations, 
we  are  often  struck  by  a  sudden  remark,  introduced 
usually  by  the  words,  "Thus  says  Meir,  Man  of 
Peace,"  transferring  us  into  quite  another  region, 
history,  Bible  criticism  or  theology. 

Nor  would  he  ever  allow  you  to  forget  that  besides 
using  your  brain  as  a  thinking  machine,  you  are  also 
possessed  of  a  living  soul,  and  that  soul,  a  Jewish 


LECTOR  MEIR  FRIED  MANN  139 

soul,  to  which  he  considered  it  his  duty  and  his 
privilege  to  address  himself.  And  thus  the  sudden 
flashes  just  indicated  would  assume  occasionally  a 
spiritual  character,  something  between  a  prayer  and 
a  promise;  as  for  instance,  in  his  notes  to  the  Pesikta 
Rabbati,  where  at  the  end  of  a  long  disquisition  as 
to  the  original  arrangement  of  his  texts,  he  sud- 
denly exclaims: 

"Be  not  frightened  at  the  aping  religions,  for 
behold,  all  that  the  prophets  said  and  what  the  wise 
men  have  told  relates  to  Israel,  not  to  any  other  na- 
tion. And  as  long  as  their  words  were  not  realized 
in  us,  the  sons  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  they 
cannot  be  regarded  as  fulfilled.  Blessed  be  he  who  hopes 
and  will  see  the  days  when  Edom  shall  be  a  possession 
and  Israel  shall  do  valiantly." 

The  "aping  religions"  are  Christianity  and  Mo- 
hammedanism, a  term  used  sometimes  by  Spanish 
philosophers,  which  Friedmann  was  fond  of  repeating. 
His  admirable  introduction,  again,  to  the  Seder 
Eliahu,  forming  the  best  essay  in  existence  on  the 
Elijah  legend  in  Hebrew  literature  is,  at  the  same 
time,  a  long  learned  epic,  giving  the  story  of  Israel's 
aspirations  both  as  a  religion  revealed  in  its  Torah, 
and  as  a  nation  manifest  in  its  eschatology.  Occasion- 
ally, he  also  seizes  the  opportunity  to  warn  against 
assimilation.  This  is  especially  the  tendency  trace- 
able in  his  monograph  on  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
Ezekiel,  which  he  published  twenty  years  ago. 
"What  the  elders  of  Israel  who  consulted  Ezekiel 
wanted,"  he  says  in  effect,  "was  to  build  themselves 
a  Temple  in  Babylon,  centralizing  there  the  Jewish 


140  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

worship  to  be  performed  by  priests  or  first-born, 
and  thus  establish  there  a  minor  sanctuary  in  the 
midst  of  Babylon  (as  a  substitute  for  the  Temple 
in  Jerusalem).  But  it  was  against  this  which  the 
prophet  protested  so  vehemently,  for  such  a  sanctuary 
would  lead  to  abandoning  all  thought  of  returning  to 
the  Holy  Land,  which  must  end  in  absorption  by  the 
surrounding  nations,  whose  deeds  they  will  imitate, 
so  that  the  name  of  God  will  be  profaned;  whilst 
the  real  destiny  of  Israel  was  the  perfection  of  the 
nation,  so  that  they  be  a  separate  nation  in  a  separate 
country,  with  God  as  their  King." 

Entertaining  such  sentiments,  (though  there  are 
passages  in  his  writings  which  would  be  considered 
rank  heresy  by  the  common  nationalist,)  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  he  was  one  of  the  first  Jewish  schol- 
ars who  approved  of  the  Zionistic  movement.  Wheth- 
er he  ever  was  an  active  member  of  any  Zionistic 
organization,  I  am  unable  to  say;  but  he  certainly 
sympathized  with  the  movement,  defending  it  both  in 
his  private  conversation  and  letters  to  his  friends  and 
in  public.  I  am  especially  thinking  of  a  short  article 
of  his  in  The  Hashiloach,  where  he  quotes  one  of 
our  mediaeval  authorities  who  maintained  that  the 
redemption  which  Israel  is  expecting  now  need  not 
necessarily  be  accompanied  by  the  interference  with 
the  laws  of  nature  as  that  from  Egypt  was,  but  may 
also  be  accomplished  without  the  intervention  of 
miracles.  He  further  quotes,  in  this  connection,  the 
well-known  passage  from  the  Midrash,  that  God's 
blessing  does  not  relieve  man  from  his  share  of  activity 
and  effort:  and  proceeds  to  say,  "This  is  answer 


LECTOR  MEIR  FRIED  MANN  141 

enough  to  those  in  Israel  who  oppose  the  great  move- 
ment in  our  day,  which,  if  the  whole  nation  should 
unite  to  aid  in  it,  would  soon  bring  about  the  ful- 
filment of  the  Scriptural  promise,  That  the  Lord 
thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all  the  work  of  thine  hand 
which  thou  doest!'  ' 

'The  conversation  of  the  men  of  the  Holy  Land," 
says  the  Midrash,  "is  a  Torah  in  itself,"  and  so  was 
that  of  Friedmann, — instructive  and  suggestive.  The 
old  adage,  "Olam  keminhago  noheg"  (the  world  moves 
on  its  customary  lines)  was  one  of  his  favorite  sayings ; 
and  in  his  simplicity  of  character,  there  was  nothing 
farther  from  him  than  the  wish  to  appear  soaring 
above  the  world.  I  remember  to  have  read  the  state- 
ment of  some  Zadik  that  simplicity  should  be  the 
only  object  of  prayer  by  man,  and  I  knew  many  who 
constantly  prayed  for  it,  but  the  more  they  prayed 
the  more  self-conscious  they  became.  To  Friedmann, 
this  gift  was  granted  without  a  prayer.  All  through 
life  he  never  assumed  the  role  of  the  "winner  of 
souls,"  though  his  influence  has  reached  more  men 
and  women  than  that  of  many  an  official  "leader  of 
the  generation."  Even  towards  his  pupils  he  never 
asserted  the  role  of  master.  He  treated  them  as 
friends  and  comrades,  mingling  in  their  conversa- 
tions and  pastimes.  Yet  Friedmann  could  never  be 
commonplace,  even  if  he  wished  to  be;  and  in  his 
talk  there  would  always  be  some  striking  remark, 
which  could  only  be  described  as  a  flash  of  genius. 
It  must  now  be  more  than  thirty  years  since  several 
young  men  were  gathered  in  his  private  room  attached 
to  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  engaged  in  easy  talk, 


142  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

when  the  conversation  took  a  serious  character, 
turning  upon  the  old  problem  of  the  destiny  of  Israel. 
Those  were  the  times  when  the  idea  of  the  Mission, 
with  its  necessary  consequence  of  Israel's  final 
absorption  in  the  great  sea  of  the  nations,  was  regarded 
as  an  indisputable  dogma;  and  so  it  was  declared  to 
be  by  the  majority  of  those  present.  Whereupon 
Friedmann  suddenly  exclaimed,  "Gentlemen,  this  is 
frog  theology,  and  unworthy  of  a  human  being!" 
After  much  guessing  as  to  the  meaning  of  his  words, 
it  was  afterwards  found  that  he  was  referring  to  a 
certain  story,  which  may  be  paraphrased  somewhat 
in  the  following  way:  A  frog  challenged  the  accom- 
plishment of  David  as  a  singer  in  Israel,  maintaining 
that  its  incessant  croaking  has  a  much  sweeter  sound, 
and  further  alleging  that  it  represents  the  martyr 
animal  of  creation,  as  it  never  hesitates  to  swim  in 
the  current  carrying  it  to  the  abode  of  the  sea-mon- 
sters, to  be  ultimately  swallowed  up  by  a  Leviathan 
exclusively  dependent  for  its  sustenance  on  frog 
food.  By  this,  the  frog  asserted  that  its  death  accom- 
plished the  message  of  its  Maker.  No  "mission  talk" 
of  this  kind  was  ever  heard  again  in  this  circle.  And 
let  there  be  no  mistake  about  it.  Friedmann  was  by 
no  means  what  is  called  "orthodox."  He  gave  evidence 
of  this  both  in  his  writings  and  conversation.  There 
is  the  famous  rebuke  by  him  administered  to  a  certain 
extremist,  "I  have  seen  many  a  rnan  wrapped  up  in 
his  Tallith  and  Tefillin,  but  harboring  a  non-Jewish 
soul,  and  I  am  addressing  myself  only  to  Jewish  souls." 
Indeed,  if  anything  could  have  provoked  his  wrath, 
it  was  fanaticism  and  persecution,  in  which  at  those 


LECTOR  MEIR  FRIED  MANN  143 

times  the  orthodox  used  to  indulge  more  than  their 
opponents, — which  conditions  I  may  remark  en 
passant  have  been  reversed  nowadays,  when  the 
' 'opponents"  have  the  majority  and  feel  strong 
enough  for  this  blessed  task.  But  Friedmann  hated 
empty  phrases  of  all  kinds,  while  he  would  never  allow 
to  pass  unchallenged  any  stigma  upon  Israel — which 
was  his  grand  passion.  It  was  in  this  way  that  he 
saved  many  a  young  man  both  from  scoffing  at  the 
Haskalah  and  from  the  cheap  platitudes  of  the 
rationalism  so  rampant  in  the  seventies. 

What  I  owe  him  personally  concerns  the  world 
very  little,  nor  have  I  the  words  at  my  command  to 
express  adequately  what  he  meant  to  me  as  a  teacher 
and  friend  for  nearly  forty  years.  Our  ancient  sages 
say,  "When  one  of  a  band  (of  friends)  dies,  let  all 
the  surviving  members  feel  troubled."  The  trouble 
is  not  so  much  a  consequence  of  fear  at  the  approach 
of  one's  own  end,  as  the  fact  that  by  the  loss  of  parents 
and  relatives  and  the  dropping  away  of  intimate 
friends,  life  becomes  constantly  poorer  in  all  that 
makes  life  valuable  and  desirable.  And  nothing 
remains  but  to  live  on  memories,  cherishing  the 
memory  of  this  Prince  in  the  Torah  and  this  great 
Man  of  Peace. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.* 

A  LEXANDER  H.  Stephens,  in  his  characteriza- 
-**>  tion  of  Lincoln,  says,  "The  Union  with  him  in 
sentiment  rose  to  the  sublimity  of  a  religious  mys- 
ticism ;  whilst  his  ideas  of  its  structure  and  formation 
in  logic  rested  upon  nothing  but  the  subtleties  of 
a  sophism." 

Stephens  was,  by  agreement  of  all,  the  ablest 
historian  of  the  Confederacy,  and,  some  think,  its 
greatest  man;  and  those  who  read  his  argument  for 
the  Union  contained  in  his  address  given  at  Milledge- 
ville,  Georgia,  before  the  War  between  the  States 
began,  will  further  admit  that  he  had  the  gift  of  see- 
ing below  the  surface  of  things,  for  the  condition  of 
affairs  as  seen  then  by  superficial  observers  was  all 
in  favor  of  secession.  Stephens  was  also  one  of  the 
few  prominent  men  of  the  Thirtieth  Congress  for 
whom  Lincoln  conceived  great  admiration  during 
his  first  appearance  at  Washington  in  the  capacity 
of  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Lin- 
coln was  present  when  Stephens  delivered  "the  best 
speech  of  an  hour's  length"  he  had  ever  heard,  which 
moved  him  so  deeply  that  his  "old,  withered  eyes 
were  full  of  tears."  At  a  later  date,  again,  when  Lin- 
coln stood  before  the  country  as  the  President-elect, 
Stephens  was,  perhaps,  the  only  Southern  statesman 


""Lecture  delivered  on  the  Occasion  of  Lincoln's  Hundreth  Anni- 
versary,   at    the    Jewish    Theological    Seminary,    February 


146  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

whose  opinion  Lincoln  solicited  in  reference  to  the 
coming  struggle.  Some  historians  maintain  that 
Lincoln  seriously  considered  the  advisability  of 
inviting  Stephens  to  become  a  member  of  his  cabinet. 
A  characterization  of  Lincoln  coming  from  such  a 
source  is  worthy  of  our  attention.  It  will,  therefore, 
not  be  amiss  if  wre  devote  this  hour  to  this  trait  of 
religious  mysticism  in  his  character,  touching  also 
on  one  or  two  other  traits  which,  by  their  seeming 
contrast,  served  either  as  a  corrective  or  as  an  em- 
phasis of  this  mystical  trait. 

Whether  this  aspect  has  ever  been  the  subject 
of  special  treatment  by  any  other  writer,  I  am  unable 
to  say.  The  list  of  Lincolniana  prepared  by  the 
Library  of  Congress  and  consisting  mostly  of  writings 
relating  to  Lincoln,  covers  a  large  quarto  volume  of 
eighty-six  pages.  This  list  was  published  in  1906, 
and  we  may  assume  that  the  last  two  years  have 
brought  us  a  new  harvest  of  Lincolniana.  There 
you  will  find  Lincoln  as  a  lawyer,  Lincoln  as  an  or- 
ganizer, Lincoln  as  an  orator,  Lincoln  as  a  general,. 
Lincoln  as  a  debater,  Lincoln  as  a  master  of  men, 
Lincoln  as  a  financier,  and  ever  so  many  more  Lin- 
coins.  For  all  I  know,  or  rather  do  not  know,  the 
possibility  is  not  excluded  that  in  this  enormous 
mass  of  literature,  Lincoln  may  have  also  been  treated 
from  the  point  of  view  I  intend  to  approach  him  this 
evening.  Even  in  this  case,  it  may  perhaps  not  be 
entirely  uninteresting  to  listen  to  one  whose  first 
acquaintance  with  Lincoln  was  made  in  far-distant 
Roumania  through  the  medium  of  Hebrew  news- 
papers some  forty-five  years  ago.  There  Lincoln 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  147 

was  described  as  originally  a  wood-chopper  (prose 
for  "rail-splitter"),  which  so  fired  the  imagination  of 
the  lad  as  to  recognize  in  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  a  new  Hillel,  for  legend  described  the  latter 
as  having  been  engaged  in  the  same  occupation  before 
lie  was  called  by  the  people  to  the  dignity  of  Patriarch, 
or  President  of  the  Sanhedrin.  Years  have  come  and 
years  have  gone,  and  the  imagination  of  the  boy  was 
in  many  respects  corrected  by  the  reading  of  serious 
books  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  United  States,  and 
particularly  on  that  of  the  Civil  War.  But  this  in 
no  way  diminished  his  admiration  for  his  hero, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  whom  he  was  always  studying, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  student  of  Jewish  literature; 
a  literature  which,  in  spite  of  its  eastern  origin, 
affords  so  much  in  the  way  of  parallel  and  simile  to 
the  elucidation  of  the  great  Western  of  the  Westerns. 
The  youth  of  Lincoln  offered  little  or  no  oppor- 
tunity for  the  display  of  religious  mysticism.  Some 
historians  of  the  high  and  dry  kind  take,  as  it  seems, 
a  genuine  pleasure  in  speaking  of  the  surroundings 
that  were  about  Lincoln  as  "coarse,  ignorant  and 
poverty-stricken."  In  a  certain  measure  this  is 
true.  Lincoln  himself  described  the  part  of  Indiana 
in  which  he  grew  up  as  a  "wild  region,  with  many 
bears  and  other  animals  still  in  the  woods."  The  con- 
ditions were  thus  semi-barbaric,  and  may  be  held 
responsible  for  whatever  of  coarseness  and  uncouth- 
ness  respectability  detected  in  the  life  of  Lincoln. 
Barbaric  conditions,  however,  have  the  great  redeem- 
ing virtue  that  there  is  little  room  in  them  for  vul- 
garity, and  this  compensates  for  the  lack  of  many 


148  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

an  accomplishment  of  civilization.  By  "vulgarity," 
I  mean  that  vice  of  civilization  which  makes  man 
ashamed  of  himself  and  his  next  of  kin,  and  pretend 
to  be  somebody  else.  It  is  a  kind  of  social  hypocrisy, 
and  not  less  pernicious  to  the  development  of  char- 
acter than  religious  hypocrisy  to  the  development 
of  saintliness.  With  Lincoln  in  particular,  such 
simulation  to  which  we  are  broken  in,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  in  a  great  civilized  community,  would 
have  proven  fatal,  as  his  great  strength  lay  in  the  fact 
that  he  always  remained  himself,  or,  as  one  of  his 
eulogists  aptly  said:  "Lincoln  is  not  a  type.  He 
stands  alone — no  ancestors,  no  fellows,  no  successors." 
More  serious,  perhaps,  is  the  charge  of  ignorance. 
In  the  biography  for  the  Directory  of  Congress, 
Lincoln  gave  himself  the  mark,  "education  defective." 
Learned  institutions  of  any  kind  were  almost  un- 
known in  those  regions.  "If  a  straggler  supposed  to 
understand  Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard."  But  even 
books,  which  have  wrought  so  many  miracles  in  pav- 
ing the  way  for  many  a  self-taught  man,  leading  to 
the  highest  academic  honors,  were  scarce.  The  whole 
settlement  in  which  Lincoln  spent  the  greatest  part 
of  his  early  youth,  could  hardly  have  commanded 
such  a  library  as  any  youngster  in  our  days,  even 
among  the  poorer  classes,  might  look  upon  as  his 
property  on  the  day  of  his  confirmation.  Even  the 
itinerant  ministers  of  religion  who  would  occasionally 
visit  these  pioneer  settlements  were  less  distinguished 
for  their  sources  of  information  than  for  their  forcible 
language,  well  spiced  with  brimstone  and  other 


ABRAHA M  LINCOLN  149 

nether-world  ingredients.  But,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out  by  several  biographers  of  Lincoln,  there 
is  no  cause  to  remonstrate  with  Providence  on  this 
account.  For  the  few  books  which  Lincoln  might 
regard  as  his  own,  so  that  he  could  pore  over  them 
day  and  night,  were  of  the  best  kind,  being  the  Bible, 
Aesop's  Fables,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Pilgrim's  Progress 
and  Weems'  Life  of  Washington."  All  these  works 
left  a  permanent  impression  upon  him,  which  is 
traceable  in  the  simplicity  of  his  lucid  style,  and  in 
his  love  of  fable  and  parable  as  a  means  of  illustrating 
a  point.  Shakespeare  and  a  few  other  English  poets 
with  whom  he  made  acquaintance  at  a  somewhat 
later  date,  may  be  added  to  this  list.  Perhaps  it 
would  have  been  better  for  Lincoln's  reputation  if 
Lincoln's  youth,  which  brought  him  to  Illinois, 
where  he  came  in  contact  with  a  more  advanced 
civilization,  would  in  respect  of  book  learning,  have 
not  gone  much  further  beyond  the  books  or  kind  of 
books  just  mentioned — in  addition,  of  course,  to 
such  works  on  the  history  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  as  were  necessary  for  his  mental 
equipment  in  his  future  career  as  lawyer  and  states- 
man. For  those  were  the  days  in  which  Volney's 
Ruins  and  Tom  Paine's  Age  of  Reason  were  taken 
as  seriously  and  read  with  as  much  eagerness  as  a 
certain  class  of  books  dabbling  in  evolution  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest — pulpit  evolution,  we  might 
term  it — are  read  and  discussed  today.  Lincoln  in 
his  zeal  for  knowledge  did  not  escape  the  tendency 
of  his  age,  and  in  impulsive  moments  gave  expression 
to  certain  rationalistic  views  which  were  afterwards 


150  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

seized  upon  with  much  avidity  by  friend  and  foe  as 
representing  "the  true  Lincoln."  The  student  of 
Hebrew  literature,  when  reading  such  "Lincolns," 
emphasizing  the  shortcomings  of  his  youth  and  the 
lack  of  presentable  ancestry,  involuntarily  thinks  of 
the  ancient  Rabbinic  but  truly  democratic  principle: 
"They  appoint  not  a  leader  over  the  community  un- 
less there  hangs  a  mass  of  reptiles  (in  the  shape  of 
certain  blemishes)  behind  him,  lest  he  become  over- 
bearing." Some  writers  apparently  mistake  the 
reptiles  for  an  essential  part  of  the  man. 

Lincoln  outgrew  all  his  puerile  rationalistic  per- 
formances soon  enough  when  the  time  for  such  action 
came  as  could  never  have  been  accomplished  without 
faith,  in  all  its  sublimity.  This  action  was  the  saving 
of  the  Union,  which  was  at  the  same  time  the  great 
opportunity  of  his  life,  and  unfortunately  also  the 
occasion  of  his  death.  No  religious  hero  ever  entered 
upon  his  mission  to  conquer  the  world  for  an  idea  or 
creed  with  more  reverence  and  a  deeper  feeling  of  the 
need  of  divine  assistance  than  did  Lincoln,  when  he 
was  about  to  leave  his  home  and  his  old  associates 
and  associations,  good  and  evil,  for  his  new  home  and 
his  new  life  in  Washington.  "I  now  leave,"  he  said 
in  his  farewell  address  to  his  fellow  citizens  at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  "not  knowing  when  or  whether  I  may 
return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which 
rested  upon  Washington.  Without  the  assistance 
of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  can- 
not succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail. 
Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain 
with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  con- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  151 

fidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well."  This  sounds 
like  a  prayer;  but  the  concluding  line  of  his  In- 
augural, given  in  Washington  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1861,  rise  to  the  heights  of  a  mystical  hymn. 

"We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not 
be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it 
must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield 
and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth- 
stone aU  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely 
they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

"Higher  criticism"  attributes  these  lines  to  a 
suggestion  of  Seward,  but  it  was  Lincoln,  as  admitted 
even  by  the  "higher  critics,"  who  gave  them  life  and 
spirit  and  who  transformed  them  into  an  illustration 
of  perfect  and  tender  beauty. 

The  expression,  "mystic  chords  of  memory"  is 
significant.  Napoleon  the  Great  is  recorded  to  have 
once  made  the  apt  remark,  "Religion  means  memory." 
If  the  Union  was  to  be  saved,  it  had  to  be  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  a  religion,  which  means  memory,  an 
object  hallowed  by  past  associations,  which  alone 
holds  out  promises  for  the  future.  Notwithstanding 
all  realistic  conceptions  of  history,  the  "better  angels 
of  our  nature"  that  alone  terminate  great  issues  by 
their  readiness  for  sacrifice,  will  never  enlist  in  a  cause 
purely  material.  The  better  angels  fought  for  the 
shrine  of  their  gods;  for  the  expansion  of  a  religious 
idea  of  which  they  were  possessed ;  for  their  existence 
as  a  nation — that  is,  their  institutions,  their  language, 
their  literature,  their  traditional  customs  and  usages; 


152  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

for  glory  and  honor — in  brief,  for  their  memories; 
though  gold  and  other  material  gains  always  proved 
a  valuable  auxiliary  as  attracting  the  minor  angels. 
In  the  case  of  America,  the  Western  man  might 
struggle  for  an  outlet  to  the  Gulf,  the  Eastern  man 
might  contend  for  the  protection  of  infant  industries, 
but  to  engage  in  a  war  of  such  dimensions  as  the 
Civil  War  was,  with  its  loss  of  men  and  loss  of  treas- 
ure, the  dynamis  of  an  idea  and  ideal  was  indis- 
pensable. And  this  idea,  denned  by  the  word  "Un- 
ion," was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  mystical  one, 
as  every  religious  idea  is.  The  State,  reaching 
directly  into  the  life  of  the  citizen  through  the  means 
of  its  courts,"  its  schools  and  its  powers  of  direct 
taxation,  was  something  concrete  and  tangible, 
evident  to  the  dullest  intellect  in  its  distribution  of 
reward  and  punishment,  and  realized  as  the  tutelar 
deity  of  the  community.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
benefits  of  the  Central  Government  were,  as  Stephens 
rightly  pointed  out,  so  silent  and  unseen,  that  they 
were  seldom  thought  of  or  appreciated,  just  as  is  the 
oxygen  in  the  air  we  breathe  little  thought  of  or 
appreciated,  although  it  is  the  very  element  that  gives 
us  life  and  strength.  Hence,  the  Union  was  a  mere 
abstraction,  invisible,  an  hypostasis  of  memory  and 
hope,  and  appealing  only  to  our  sense  of  reverence 
and  worship  or  "the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

The  realization  of  great  ideas,  heaven-conceived 
and  earth-born,  is  not  accomplished  without  travail 
and  woe,  deep  sorrow  and  repeated  disappointment. 
History  of  things  past,  and  apocalyptic  pictures  of 
events  to  come,  furnish  sufficient  proof  of  this.  And 


ABRAHA M  LINCOLN  153 

such  was  the  case  with  the  idea  of  the  Union  before 
it  could  pass  into  the  consciousness  of  the  people  as  a 
solemn  fact.  The  effect  of  the  first  Union  defeats 
upon  the  great  persons  of  Washington  and  their 
entourage  is  recorded  by  Walt  Whitman  as  "a 
mixture  of  awful  consternation,  uncertainty,  rage, 
shame,  helplessness  and  stupefying  disappointment." 
Lincoln  himself  was  no  exception  in  this  respect, 
though  his  calm  disposition  preserved  him  from 
"rage."  His  sublime  faith,  again,  in  the  cause  of 
the  Union  which,  in  the  manner  of  a  Luther  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  he  considered  to  be  God's  cause, 
made  real  despair  impossible.  But  this  confidence 
did  not  exclude  moments  of  terrible  anguish  and 
intense  suffering.  At  times  of  frightful  suspense, 
he  would  envy  the  common  soldier,  and  would  will- 
ingly have  exchanged  places  with  him,  whilst  after 
the  terrible  defeat  of  the  Union  forces  at  Fredericks- 
burg,  he  exclaimed:  "Oh,  if  there  is  a  man  out  of 
hell  that  suffers  more  than  I  do,  I  pity  him!"  His 
normal  condition  may  be  described  as  expectation 
inspired  by  the  sense  of  the  awful.  It  is  well  depicted 
in  the  answer  given  by  him  to  a  delegation  of  ministers 
importuning  him  with  their  well-meant  counsel;  and 
probably  reflects  his  own  mental  attitude:  "Gentle- 
men," he  said,  "suppose  all  the  property  you  possess 
were  in  gold,  and  you  had  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
Blondin  to  carry  across  the  Niagara  River  on  a  rope. 
With  slow,  cautious,  steady  steps  he  walks  the  rope, 
bearing  your  all.  Would  you  shake  the  cable  and 
keep  shouting  to  him,  'Blondin,  stand  up  a  little 
straighter!  Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more;  go  a  little 


154  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

faster;  lean  more  to  the  south!  Now  lean  a  little 
more  to  the  north!'  Would  that  be  your  behaviour 
in  such  an  emergency?  No!  You  would  hold  your 
breath,  everyone  of  you,  as  well  as  your  tongues. 
You  would  keep  your  hands  off  until  he  was  safe 
on  the  other  side."  This  simile  is  rather  homely  in 
its  local  color,  but  it  struck  me  as  peculiarly  forcible 
many  years  ago,  long  before  I  had  ever  seen  Niagara 
Falls  or  ever  heard  of  Blondin  and  his  performances. 
It  somehow  sounded  to  me  like  an  echo  from  the 
following  passage  to  be  found  in  Bedresi's  Examina- 
tion of  the  World,  that  may  be  paraphrased  thus: 
"The  World  is  a  stormy  sea,  of  depth  immeasurable 
and  expanse  unbounded.  Time  is  a  frail  bridge  built 
over  it.  The  one  end  is  fastened  by  cords  to  the 
Vast  that  precedes  existence,  and  its  terminus  gives 
glimpses  of  eternal  glory  through  the  light  of  the 
presence  of  the  King.  The  width  of  the  bridge  is 
as  a  man's  cubit,  and  the  rails  have  disappeared. 
But  thou,  Son  of  Man,  without  thy  consent,  thou 
livest  and  continuously  dost  progress  over  it  from 
the  day  of  thy  birth.  When  thou  meditatest  upon 
the  narrowness  of  the  span,  having  no  side  path 
either  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  when  thou  perceivest 
death  and  destruction  encompassing  thee  as  a  wall 
on  either  side,  will  not  thy  heart  fail,  and  wilt  thou 
still  glory  in  power  and  fame?"  Bedresi  flourished 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  his  book  was  written 
in  Hebrew,  and  I  hardly  need  say  that  Lincoln  never 
as  much  as  even  heard  of  it. 

With  the  consciousness  of  the  Union,  or  the  body- 
politic,  there  developed  in  Lincoln  also  the  conscious- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  155 

ness  of  the  national  sin,  and  the  need  of  confession, 
which  indeed  is  another  manifestation  of  religious 
mysticism.  Renan,  in  his  famous  review  of  Amiel's 
Journal,  remarks:  "He  (Amiel)  speaks  of  sin,  of 
salvation,  etc.,  as  though  they  were  realities.  Sin  in 
particular,  engrosses  his  attention  and  saddens  him." 
Sin  was  also  a  reality  with  Lincoln,  weighing  heavily 
on  his  conscience,  not  to  be  countenanced  on  any 
aesthetic  considerations  or  argued  away  by  any  philo- 
sophic or  sociological  formula.  There  it  was,  and  it 
cried  for  atonement.  Thus,  in  one  of  his  proclama- 
tions, he  addresses  the  nation  in  the  following  words: 
"We  have  grown  in  numbers,  wealth  and  power  as  no 
other  nation  has  ever  grown;  but  we  have  forgotten 

God We  have  been  the  recipients  of  the 

choicest  bounties  of  heaven.  Intoxicated  by  unbroken 
success,  we  have  become  .  .  .  too  proud  to  pray 
to  the  God  that  made  us.  We  have  been  preserved 
these  many  years  in  peace  and  prosperity.  It  behooves 
us,  then,  ....  to  confess  our  national  sins, 
and  to  pray  for  clemency  and  forgiveness."  The 
plural  "we"  in  these  proclamations  is  to  be  taken 
literally  to  include  the  North,  whom  he  by  no  means 
acquitted  of  the  great  national  sin.  "If  God  wills," 
he  wrote  once,  "the  removal  of  a  great  wrong,  and 
wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the 
South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that 
wrong,  impartial  history  will  find  therein  new  cause 
to  attest  and  revere  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God." 
And  in  the  nation  he  included  fully  his  own  person. 
He  is  even  said  to  have  exclaimed  once  in  a  moment 
of  deep  depression,  "If  our  American  society  and  the 


156  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

United  States  Government  are  demoralized  and 
overthrown,  it  will  come  from  the  voracious  desire 
for  office,  this  wriggle  to  live  without  toil,  work  and 
labor,  from  which  I  am  not  free  myself." 

The  greatest  human  and  at  the  same  time  religious 
document,  however,  left  us  by  Lincoln,  for  which 
history  hardly  affords  any  model,  except  perhaps  that 
of  the  Scriptures  is,  as  is  well  known,  his  Second 
Inaugural:  '  The  Almighty  has  His  own  purpose. 
Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offense;  for  it  must 
needs  be  that  offenses  come ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  offense  cometh.'  If  we  shall  suppose  that 
American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in 
the  providence  of  God  must  needs  come,  but  which, 
having  continued  through  His  appointed  time,  He 
now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  He  gives  to  both 
North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to 
those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern 
therein  any  departure  from  the  divine  attributes 
which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe 
to  him?  Fondly  do  we  hope — fervently  do  we  pray — 
that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass 
away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all 
the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondsman's  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and 
until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall 
be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said 
three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said: 
The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether.'  ' 

When  reading  these  lines  just  given,  one  can 
scarcely  believe  that  they  formed  a  part  of  a  message 


ABRAHA  M  LINCOLN  157 

addressed  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  an  assembly 
composed  largely  of  men  of  affairs  and  representatives 
of  a  special  political  party,  surrounded  by  all  the 
pomp  and  paraphernalia  of  one  of  the  greatest 
legislative  bodies  the  world  has  ever  seen.  One 
rather  imagines  himself  transported  into  a  camp  of 
contrite  sinners  determined  to  leave  the  world  and  its 
vanities  behind  them,  possessed  of  no  other  thought 
but  that  of  reconciliation  with  their  God,  and  ad- 
dressed by  their  leader  when  about  to  set  out  on  a 
course  of  penance.  Indeed,  how  little  the  religious 
sentiments  manifest  in  this  document  echoed  those 
of  either  party  is  evident  from  a  letter  of  Lincoln  to 
Thurlow  Weed,  with  reference  to  the  Second  In- 
augural: ".  .  .  .  I  believe  it  is  not  immediately 
popular.  Men  are  not  flattered  by  being  shown  that 
there  has  been  a  difference  of  purpose  between  the 
Almighty  and  them.  To  deny  it,  however,  in  this 
case,  is  to  deny  that  there  is  a  God  governing  the 
world.  It  is  a  truth  which  I  thought  needed  to  be 
told,  and,  as  whatever  of  humiliation  there  is  in  it 
falls  most  directly  on  myself,  I  thought  others  might 
afford  for  me  to  tell  it."  To  take  upon  one's  self 
the  burden  of  humiliation  in  which  the  whole  nation 
should  share,  is  another  feature  of  religious  mysticism 
which  so  vividly  realizes  in  the  sphere  of  morality 
the  unity  of  humanity,  and  in  the  realm  of  history  the 
union  of  the  nation,  so  that  it  does  not  hesitate  to 
suffer  and  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  generation. 

Religious  mysticism,  however,  has  the  defects  of 
its  quality,  and  the  defects  are  very  serious.  For, 
the  superabundance  of  zeal  and  extravagant  enthu- 


158  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

siasm  such  as  often  accompany  religious  mysticism 
may,  as  experience  teaches,  very  easily  degenerate 
into  fanaticism  and  lawlessness,  brushing  aside  all 
legal  restraints  and  occasionally  ignoring  even  all 
humane  considerations.  From  these  dangers,  Lin- 
coln was  preserved  by  his  legal  training  and  not  less 
by  his  divine  humor. 

Many  writers  have  shown  what  Lincoln's  experi- 
ence at  the  bar  meant  for  him  in  his  later  historic 
guidance  of  the  nation.  But  the  best  gift  these 
twenty-three  years  in  the  legal  profession  brought  him 
was  that  it  created  in  him  a  legal  conscience,  which 
proved  immune  against  the  possible  excesses  of 
mysticism.  He  certainly  considered  slavery  as  the 
sin,  par  excellence.  "If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing 
is  wrong,"  and  to  this  conviction  of  the  wrong  of 
slavery,  statements  may  be  quoted  dating  from  his 
earliest  manhood.  About  this  fact  all  the  best  author- 
ities are  agreed  now,  whatever  doubts  there  may 
have  been  expressed  concerning  it  a  generation  ago, 
and  there  is  no  necessity  to  adduce  here  more  proofs. 
But  he  was  equally  convinced  of  the  supremacy  of 
the  law,  as  embodied  in  the  Constitution,  its  author- 
ized interpretations,  and  the  enactments  made  under 
its  provisions.  Liberty  is  sacred,  but  so  is  the  Consti- 
tution, the  sacred  writ  of  the  United  States,  and  in 
opposition  to  the  most  distinguished  of  his  colleagues, 
he  was  loath  to  agree  that  it  can  be  ruled  out  of  court 
by  the  "higher  law,"  or  the  "unwritten  law."  "Let 
every  American,"  he  exclaimed  in  one  of  his  earlier 
speeches,  "every  lover  of  liberty,  every  well-wisher 


ABRA  HA  M  LINCOLN  1 59 

to  his  posterity,  swear  by  the  blood  of  the  Revolution 
never  to  violate  in  the  least  particular  the  laws  of 
the  country,  and  never  to  tolerate  their  violation 
by  others."  Indeed,  he  considered  "the  increasing 
disregard  of  the  law  which  pervaded  the  country 
as  something  of  ill  omen — the  growing  disposition 
to  substitute  the  wild  and  curious  passions  in  lieu 
of  the  sober  judgments  of  the  courts,  and  the  worse 
than  savage  mobs  for  the  executive  ministers  of 
justice."  The  passages  just  quoted  are  taken  from 
an  address  given  by  Lincoln  in  January,  1837,  when 
he  was  fully  engaged  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer. 
But  this  conviction  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  law, 
grows  upon  him  with  the  growth  of  his  personality 
and  the  growth  of  the  temptation  to  break  it.  He 
is  ' 'naturally  anti-slavery,"  as  he  expressed  it,  and  is 
the  more  on  his  guard  not  to  follow  the  bent  of  his 
nature.  And  the  temptation  was  great  indeed,  when 
we  consider  not  only  his  own  inclination,  but  the  general 
tendency  of  several  of  the  leaders  of  his  own  party, 
to  think  lightly  of  the  Constitution,  a  tendency  ex- 
pressed in  Stanton's  well-known  words:  "It  is 
better  to  have  a  country  without  a  Constitution  than 
a  Constitution  without  a  country."  It  is  further 
clear  from  Lincoln's  famous  letter  to  Hodges  that 
he  shared  to  some  degree  in  this  feeling.  Yet  he 
remained  steadfast  to  his  legal  principles.  He 
admitted  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  "bad  laws," 
but  the  only  remedy  he  saw  was  that  they  "should 
be  repealed  as  soon  as  possible;  as  long  as  they  con- 
tinue in  force,  they  should  be  religiously  observed." 


1 60  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

Hence  his  well-known  hesitation  to  emancipate  the 
slave,  and  his  recurring  to  it  in  the  end  only  as  a 
measure  of  war,  which  he  thought  justified  by  the 
Constitution. 

This  legal  conscience  found  a  powerful  ally  in 
Lincoln's  humor.  No  flaw  in  an  argument  could 
elude  it,  no  human  weakness  in  either  party  could 
escape  it,  but  it  possessed  also  that  divine  quality 
of  wounding  and  healing  at  the  same  time,  which 
made  it  with  no  real  malice  to  anyone  and  charitable 
in  the  end  to  others. 

Nothing  is  more  congenial  to  the  student  of  Jewish 
literature  than  these  ingredients  in  Lindoln's  mental 
make-up  which  found  their  expression  in  his  stories, 
his  repartee,  his  wit  and  sarcasm,  in  all  of  which  he 
was  such  a  consummate  master.  In  the  literature  of 
the  Jew,  the  Mashal  (comparison)  or  Maaseh  (story) 
are  the  most  prominent.  They  were  mostly  used  by 
way  of  illustration.  The  use  of  the  Mashal  in  par- 
ticular, is  illustrated  by  the  Rabbis  by  another 
"mashal"  comparing  it  to  the  handle  which  enables 
people  to  take  hold  of  a  thing  or  subject.  Occasionally 
it  forms  the  introduction  to  the  most  solemn  dis- 
course. Thus  it  is  recorded  of  a  famous  Rabbi  that 
before  he  commenced  his  lectures  on  points  of  law 
before  his  disciples,  he  would  first  tell  them  something 
humorous  to  make  them  laugh,  and  then,  resuming 
his  natural  self,  commenced  in  solemn  frame  of  mind 
his  discourse.  I  need  hardly  remind  you  here  of  the 
well-known  tradition  in  connection  with  the  Presi- 
dent's first  reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
to  the  members  of  his  cabinet  (September  22,  1862). 
They  met  in  his  office  at  the  White  House,  and  then 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  161 

took  their  seats  in  the  usual  order.  Lincoln  then  took 
Artemus  Ward's  book,  and  read  from  it  the  chapter, 
"High-Handed  Outrage  at  Utica,"  which  he  thought 
very  funny,  and  enjoyed  the  reading  of  it  greatly, 
while  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  except  Stanton, 
laughed  with  him.  Then  he  fell  into  a  grave  tone  and 
began  the  discussion  preceding  the  perusal  of  this 
great  historical  and  momentous  document. 

To  give  another  example:  Once  when  a  Rabbi 
wanted  to  impress  his  audience  with  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  intemperance,  he  began:  "Story:  Once 
upon  a  time  there  was  a  pious  man  whose  father  was 
addicted  to  strong  drink,  which  brought  great  shame 
upon  him.  On  one  occasion,  the  pious  man  walked 
in  the  street  in  a  pouring  rain,  when  he  perceived  a 
drunken  man  lying  in  the  gutter  and  exposed  to  the 
abuse  of  the  street  urchins,  who  made  sport  of  him. 
He  thereupon  thought  in  his  heart,  'I  will  induce 
father  to  come  here  to  show  him  the  humiliation  he 
brings  upon  himself  by  his  dissipation.'  The  father 
came,  but  the  first  thing  he  did  was  to  ask  the  drunken 
man  for  the  address  of  the  inn  where  such  good  wine 
was  sold."  This  recalls  to  our  mind  Lincoln's  well- 
known  answer  to  the  charge  brought  against  one  of 
his  most  successful  generals  that  he  sometimes  drank 
too  much.  Lincoln  merely  asked  to  know  the  brand 
of  whiskey  consumed  by  him  so  that  he  "might 
distribute  it  among  some  of  the  other  generals." 
Lincoln's  pleading  with  his  friends  and  foes  that  there 
is  no  hope  for  Americans  to  live  outside  of  the  Consti- 
tution if  they  cannot  any  longer  live  in  it  (I  am  unable 
to  locate  the  passage  or  to  give  the  exact  words) 
reminded  me  when  I  read  it  of  the  following  Jewish 


162  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

parable:  "Once  upon  a  time,  a  fox  was  walking  by 
the  banks  of  a  river,  and  he  saw  the  fish  swimming 
from  place  to  place.  'Why  this  unrest?'  asked  the 
fox.  The  fish  answered,  'Because  of  the  nets  spread 
out  for  us  by  the  sons  of  men.'  Thereupon  the  fox 
said,  'Would  you  not  prefer  to  move  to  the  land  and 
I  and  you  will  live  together,  as  my  ancestors  and  yours 
did  before  us?'  The  fish  answered,  'Art  thou  the  one 
who  is  spoken  of  as  the  sage  among  the  animals? 
Thou  art  a  fool.  If,  in  our  element  of  life  we  cannot 
always  escape  danger,  the  less  so  in  the  element  that 
means  death  for  us.'  ' 

Lincoln's  humor  not  only  served  him  as  a  means  of 
instruction  and  illustration,  but  proved  also  an  ex- 
cellent weapon  of  offense  and  defence.  You  have  all 
probably  heard  the  story  which  he  told  once  when  dis- 
cussing the  newspaper  attacks  on  his  administration, 
emanating  from  the  various  quarters  which  agreed 
in  nothing  except  their  hostility  to  the  President: 

"A  traveler  on  the  frontier  found  himself  out  of 
his  reckoning  one  night  in  a  most  inhospitable  region. 
A  terrific  thunderstorm  came  up,  to  add  to  his 
trouble.  He  floundered  along  until  at  length  his 
horse  gave  out.  The  lightning  afforded  him  the  only 
clue  to  his  way,  but  the  peals  of  thunder  were  fright- 
ful. One  bolt,  which  seemed  to  crush  the  earth 
beneath  him,  brought  him  to  his  knees.  By  no  means 
a  praying  man,  his  petition  was  short  and  to  the  point: 
'O  Lord,  if  it's  all  the  same  to  you,  give  us  a  little 
more  light  and  a  little  less  noise." 

The  noise  indeed  was  terrific  and  light  was  neces- 
sary. I  once  read  a  remark  that  every  great  move- 


ABRA  HA  M  LINCOLN  1 63 

ment  is  liable  to  suffer  not  less  by  the  arrogance  of 
the  few  than  by  the  ignorance  of  the  many.  The 
many  in  this  case  were  the  people  at  large  who,  in 
their  slow  and  sluggish  way,  could  be  moved  by  the 
sequence  of  events  under  the  tuition  of  such  a  master 
mind  as  Lincoln.  More  hopeless  was  the  case  of  the 
few  who  looked  upon  themselves  as  the  elect,  and 
neither  minded  nor  cared  for  the  people  behind  them. 
These  self-constituted  advisers  did  not  take  into 
consideration  that  there  were  such  things  as  a  Con- 
stitution and  Constitutional  guarantees,  which  as 
the  sworn  officer  of  the  law  Lincoln  could  not  possibly 
ignore.  They  were  always  ready  with  their  counsel 
to  Lincoln,  and  even  the  logic  of  events  never  cured 
them  of  their  dogmatism  and  positiveness.  Only 
lately,  I  read  a  book  by  one  of  these  elect,  written 
more  than  a  generation  after  Lincoln's  death,  in 
which  the  impression  is  conveyed  that  the  Civil  War 
might  have  been  easily  averted  had  the  President 
but  followed  the  advice  offered  to  him  by  the  writer 
and  his  friends. 

"And  this  reminds  me  of  a  story,"  to  use  a  favorite 
expression  of  Lincoln.  I  give  the  story  in  the  pe- 
culiar version  I  heard  it  once  from  "one  who  tells" 
(Maggid),  though  the  main  features  of  it  are  known 
from  the  Midrashim  and  the  Pseudepigrapha,  not  to 
mention  Milton's  "Paradise  Lost."  "When  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He,  was  about  to  create  man, 
He  invited  the  angels  and  asked  them  for  their 
opinion.  Their  answer  was,  'Let  man  not  be  created, 
for  he  will  prove  a  sinful  creature.'  And  so  indeed 
it  came  to  pass,  'that  the  wickedness  of  man  was 


164  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

upon  the  earth.'  Then  they  came  to  God  and  said, 
'We  told  you  so!'  The  Lord's  answer  was,  'If  you 
are  so  self-righteous,  descend  to  the  earth  and  see 
whether  with  all  your  heavenly  bringing  up  you  will 
turn  out  less  proof  against  sin  than  man?'  A  certain 
number  of  angels  did  descend  to  earth,  where  they 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  daughters  of  man, 
'and  brought  forth  the  generation  of  giants,  men  of 
renown.'  But  the  great  majority  of  the  angels 
withdrew  in  a  sullen  mood  to  a  remote  corner  of 
heaven,  eternally  absorbed  in  the  admiration  of  their 
own  virtue  which  prevented  them  from  begetting  giants 
and  men  of  renown,  and  continuing  out  of  sheer  habit 
to  sing  the  praise,  not  of  God,  but  of  themselves." 

The  counterpart  of  this  celestial  coterie  is  known 
on  earth  under  various  appellatives  bestowed  upon 
them  by  themselves,  such  as  "illuminati,"  "elect," 
"seekers  after  perfection,"  etc.,  and  the  only  way 
to  meet  them  is  with  humor  in  its  various  aspects. 
Serious  argument  is  of  little  use  on  such  occasions, 
for  they  appeal  to  the  will  of  God,  "which  prevails," 
and  should  be  indeed  the  last  appeal  in  all  matters; 
but  it  never  occurs  to  them  that  there  is  a  possibility 
that  they  are  not  the  chosen  vessels  for  this  revelation 
of  the  will  of  God.  As  Lincoln  expressed  it,  "There 
is  certainly  no  contending  against  the  will  of  God, 
but  still  there  is  some  difficulty  in  ascertaining  and 
applying  it  to  particular  cases."  How  he  dealt  with 
the  "certain  ones"  may  be  best  illustrated  by  the 
following  episode: 

A  member  of  a  church,  at  a  reception,  closed  his 
remarks  with  the  pious  hope  "that  the  Lord  is  on  our 


ABRAHA M  LINCOLN  165 

side."  "I  am  not  at  all  concerned  about  that,"  com- 
mented the  President,  "for  we  know  that  the  Lord  is 
always  on  the  side  of  the  right.  But  it  is  my  constant 
anxiety  and  prayer  that  I  and  the  nation  should 
be  on  the  Lord's  side." 

This  suspicion  against  overzeal,  which  might  make 
it  possible  for  man  not  to  be  on  the  Lord's  side  even 
when  in  the  service  of  a  righteous  cause,  is  one  against 
which  man  has  constantly  to  be  on  his  guard.  Even 
Elijah,  according  to  Rabbinic  legend,  received  a 
rebuke  when  he  exclaimed,  "I  have  been  very  jealous 
for  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts."  And  it  was  intimated 
to  him  from  heaven  that  there  is  just  a  possibility 
that  it  is  his  own  person  for  which  he  shows  so  much 
zeal.  This  is  indeed  the  great  danger  of  every  mis- 
sion of  this  nature,  that  man  is  very  often  liable  to 
confuse  his  own  cause  with  that  of  God.  I  remember 
to  have  read  somewhere  a  conversation  between  two 
American  statesmen.  In  the  heat  of  the  argument  the 
one  quoted  the  well-known  dictum  of  Johnson, 
"Patriotism  is  the  last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel."  Where- 
upon, the  other  retorted,  "Sir,  you  overlook  the  pos- 
sibilities of  reform  and  progress."  The  history  of 
Reconstruction  unfortunately  showed  that  the  retort 
was  not  without  a  grain  of  truth. 

Even  more  characteristic  is  Lincoln's  answer  given 
to  a  delegation  of  ministers  from  Chicago,  urging  him 
to  issue  a  Proclamation  of  Emancipation  before  he 
considered  it  fit  to  do  so.  One  of  the  ministers  felt 
it  his  duty  to  make  a  more  searching  appeal  to  the 
President's  conscience.  Just  as  they  were  retiring, 
he  turned  and  said  to  Lincoln:  "What  you  have  said 


1 66  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

to  us,  Mr.  President,  compels  me  to  say  to  you  in 
reply  that  it  is  a  message  to  you  from  our  Divine 
Master,  through  me,  commanding  you,  sir,  to  open 
the  doors  of  bondage,  that  the  slave  may  go  free!" 
Generally,  "the  master  of  men"  followed  the  counsel 
of  old  sages,  listening  politely  to  every  advice  offered 
to  him  and  deciding  as  seemed  to  him  best: 

Listen  to  every  counsel, 

And  the  best  of  them  choose, 

And  make  the  counsel  of  thy  heart  to  stand; 

For  there  is  none  more  faithful  unto  thee  than  it. 

But  he  had  little  patience  with  dogmatism  of  the 
kind  just  cited,  and  his  answer  was:  "That  may  be, 
sir,  for  I  have  studied  this  question  by  night  and  by 
day,  for  weeks  and  for  months,  but  if  it  is,  as  you  say, 
a  message  from  your  Divine  Master,  is  it  not  odd  that 
the  only  channel  He  could  send  it  by  was  that  round- 
about route  by  way  of  that  awful  wicked  city  of 
Chicago?"  This  is  the  version  given  by  Schuyler 
Colfax  in  his  "Reminiscences"  of  Lincoln,  but  there 
is  also  another  version  of  it,  in  which  the  uncharitable 
remark  about  the  metropolis  of  the  West  is  omitted. 
It  reads:  "I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for  me  to 
say  that  if  it  is  probable  that  God  would  reveal  His 
will  to  others  on  a  point  so  connected  with  my  duty, 
it  might  be  supposed  He  would  reveal  it  directly  to 
me.  .  .  .  Whatever  shall  appear  to  be  God's 
will,  I  will  do."  The  fact  is  Lincoln  recognized  no 
other  medium  for  this  divine  revelation  than  "the 
will  of  the  people,  constitutionally  expressed,  which 
is  the  ultimate  law  for  all."  This  is  indeed  the 
"mystery  of  democracy,  or  sentiment  of  the  equality 


ABRA  HA  M  LINCOLN  167 

before  God  of  all  His  creatures,"  which  assumes  that 
all  the  world's  people  are  prophets,  but  at  the  same 
time  perceives  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  the  best  guarantee  against  false  prophets. 

As  far  as  Lincoln  himself  is  concerned,  all  the  false 
prophets  have  disappeared,  for  indeed  there  were 
false  prophets  both  among  the  Republicans  and  the 
Democrats  who  predicted  most  dire  consequences 
from  Lincoln's  election.  In  a  letter  to  General  J. 
M.  Schofield,  who  had  to  contend  so  much  with 
the  various  factions  within  the  Republican  Party 
itself,  Lincoln  wrote,  "If  both  factions,  or  neither, 
shall  abuse  you,  you  will  probably  be  about  right. 
Beware  of  being  assailed  by  one  and  praised  by  the 
other."  Lincoln  passed  through  both  stages,  having 
been  first  assailed  by  all  parties,  and  now  praised 
by  all,  even  by  many  eminent  Southerners  who  do 
not  fail  to  recognize  his  greatness.  And  thus  he  is 
doubly  right. 

The  half  century  that  has  wellnigh  elapsed  since 
his  death  has  dispelled  the  mists  that  encompassed 
him  on  earth.  Men  now  not  only  recognize  the  right 
which  he  championed,  but  behold  in  him  the  standard 
of  righteousness,  of  liberty,  of  conciliation  and  truth. 
In  him,  as  it  were  personified,  stands  the  Union,  all 
that  is  best  and  noblest  and  enduring  in  its  principles, 
in  which  he  devoutly  believed  and  strove  mightily  to 
save.  When  today,  the  world  celebrates  the  century 
of  his  existence,  he  has  become  the  ideal  of  both 
North  and  South,  of  a  common  country,  composed 
not  only  of  the  factions  that  once  confronted  each  other 
in  war's  dreadful  array,  but  of  the  myriad  thousands 


168  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

that  have  since  found  in  the  American  nation  the 
hope  of  the  future  and  the  refuge  from  age-entrenched 
wrong  and  absolution.  To  them  Lincoln,  his  life, 
his  history,  his  character,  his  entire  personality, 
with  all  its  wondrous  charm  and  grace,  its  sobriety, 
patience,  self-abnegation  and  sweetness,  has  come  to 
be  the  very  prototype  of  a  rising  humanity. 

A  certain  Jewish  saint  who  had  the  misfortune  to 
survive  the  death  of  his  greatest  disciple,  is  recorded 
to  have  exclaimed:  "O  Lord,  thou  shouldst  be  grate- 
ful to  me  that  I  have  trained  for  Thee  so  noble  a  soul." 
This  is  somewhat  too  bold,  but  we  may  be  grateful 
to  God  for  having  given  us  such  a  great  soul  as  Lin- 
coln, "who,  under  God,  gave  this  nation  a  new  birth 
of  freedom,"  and  to  our  dear  country,  which  by  its 
institutions  and  its  people  rendered  possible  the  great- 
ness for  which  Abraham  Lincoln  shall  stand  forever. 


BENNO  BADT.* 

THE  death  of  Professor  Doctor  Benno  Badt, 
which  occurred  on  the  16th  of  April,  1909, 
will  be  felt  as  an  irreparable  loss  by  the  Breslau  com- 
munity, and  not  less  by  his  numerous  friends  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Doctor  Badt  was  born  in  the  year  1844  at  Schwer- 
senk,  in  the  Grand-Duchy  of  Posen,  but  he  emi- 
grated at  a  very  early  age  to  Breslau,  the  capital  of 
Prussian  Silesia.  There  he  took  up  a  double  course 
of  studies,  secular  and  theological;  the  former  at 
the  gymnasium  and  university,  the  latter  at  the 
Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  that  city.  From 
both  these  institutions  he  graduated  with  distinction. 
The  guiding  spirit  of  the  Breslau  Seminary  at  that 
period  was  its  famous  director,  R.  Zecharias  Frankel, 
assisted  by  such  men  of  renown  as  Graetz,  Bernays  and 
Joel.  Badt,  however,  never  made  use  of  his  Rabbinic 
diploma,  his  preference  having  been  for  the  scholastic 
career.  He  thus  entered  the  Johannes  Gymnasium 
as  instructor,  where  in  due  course  of  time  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  Oberlehrer,  and  then  to  that 
of  Professor,  which  office  he  held  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  The  subjects  on  which  he  lectured  were  the 
classical  languages,  Greek  and  Latin.  He  was  also 
a  fine  English  scholar,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  he 
gave  instruction  in  that  language  for  some  time. 

But  though  he  refused  to  make  a  profession  of 
*Paper  contributed  to  the  American  Hebrew,  May  7,  1909. 


170  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  Rabbinate,  he  remained  a  Rabbi  all  his  life  in 
the  best  sense  of  this  term.  When  the  authorities 
of  the  Seminary  remonstrated  with  him  for  declining 
to  accept  a  call  from  a  congregation,  he  is  reputed  to 
have  answered  that  he  chose  to  remain  a  "Welt- 
priester"  (lay  brother),  in  which  capacity  he  might 
accomplish  more  good.  And  so  he  did.  Though 
moving  largely,  by  reason  of  his  profession,  in  a  pagan 
world,  he  reserved  in  it  a  small  corner  sacred  to  his 
favorite  subject,  closely  bordering  on  Jewish  litera- 
ture. I  refer  to  his  Hellenistic  studies,  in  which  Jew 
and  pagan  meet  so  closely,  and  in  which  he  was  con- 
sidered a  specialist.  The  results  of  these  studies 
were  given  to  the  world  in  his  various  treatises  on 
the  Sybilline  Oracles.  Only  a  few  months  ago  he 
published  an  excellent  translation  of  Philo's  Vita 
Mosis,  equipped  with  a  scientific  apparatus  of  the 
highest  order.  But  this  was  only  a  small  fraction 
of  what  he  could  do  and  might  have  done,  had  his 
professional  duties  not  been  of  so  absorbing  a  nature. 
Both  in  his  conversation  and  in  his  correspondence  he 
would  dwell  with  intense  expectancy  on  the  time  when 
circumstances  would  enable  him  to  retire  from  his 
post  in  the  Gymnasium  in  order  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  the  study  of  his  favorite  subject. 

He  was  also  greatly  interested  in  the  problem  of 
religious  education,  to  the  solution  of  which  he  con- 
tributed both  by  direct  teaching  in  religious  schools 
and  by  many  an  essay  in  various  pedagogic  period- 
icals and  societies.  His'  "Kinderbibel"  for  use  at 
home  and  in  school  is,  as  I  understand,  one  of  the 


BEN  NO  BADT  171 


most  popular  books  of  this  kind  in  Germany.  As 
to  his  Richtung  (religious  views),  he  remained,  in 
spite  of  all  his  devotion  to  Hellenistic  literature,  a 
staunch  conservative  Jew  all  his  life.  Or  perhaps  it 
was  because  of  this  devotion  that  he  was  a  Conserva- 
tive Jew,  as  was  the  case  with  many  a  Jewish  savant 
that  made  a  specialty  of  the  Septuagint,  Philo  and  the 
cognate  productions  of  Alexandrian  Judaism.  Hel- 
lenism is  certainly  one  of  the  most  important  phe- 
nomena in  our  history,  but  if  it  teaches  anything  in 
the  way  of  a  practical  lesson,  it  is  that  any  attempt 
to  dispense  with  the  sacred  language  and  to  emphasize 
the  universal  elements  at  the  expense  of  the  ceremonial 
law  and  its  national  aspect,  must  result  in  disaster. 
The  center  of  gravity  of  Judaism  must  remain  in 
Judaism,  and  may  never  be  placed  outside  of  it. 

Besides  his  scholarly  pursuits,  he  was  also  one  of 
the  most  active  men  in  the  Breslau  Jewish  community. 
He  served  on  the  Board  of  Jewish  Representatives  of 
that  city,  where  he  always  both  urged  and  enforced 
the  claims  of  the  conservative  section  of  the  com- 
munity. Charity  was  a  specialty  of  his:  he  was  very 
liberal  in  his  contributions  to  every  worthy  cause, 
and,  what  was  more,  he  made  others  imitate  his 
example,  for  which  his  position  as  committeeman  on 
various  philanthropic  societies  of  Breslau  gave  him 
ample  opportunity.  Struggling  students  repaired 
to  him  freely,  and  were  sure  of  being  received  hos- 
pitably. He  was  always  ready  to  accord  them  advice 
and  even  material  support.  For  all  sorts  of  men  of 
intelligence,  taste  and  culture  his  house  was  a  favorite 


172  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

rendezvous,  and  they  accounted  it  a  privilege  and  a 
delight  to  spend  an  evening  in  his  company  and  the 
company  of  his  accomplished  wife. 

But  better  than  all  his  activities  was  Badt  him- 
self. To  know  Badt  was  to  love  and  to  honor  him. 
This  was  the  case  both  with  Jew  and  Christian, 
liberal  or  conservative.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem 
by  the  whole  community,  and  deeply  revered  by  his 
colleagues  and  pupils.  Indeed,  his  love  of  truth 
was  proverbial  in  Breslau.  I  am  convinced,  and  so 
I  am  sure  are  all  who  knew  him,  that  he  would  rather 
have  suffered  martyrdom  than  speak  or  even  think 
an  untruth.  For  he  was,  indeed,  "a  man  who  feared 
God  as  well  in  private  as  in  public,  acknowledged 
the  truth  and  spake  truth  in  his  heart." 

The  story  is  told  of  a  Rabbi,  who  paid  a  visit  to 
a  friend  on  his  sickbed,  that  he  suddenly  broke  out 
in  tears.  "I  cry,"  he  said,  "over  that  beauty,  that  it 
should  rot  in  the  dust."  A  more  beautiful  soul  than 
Badt,  more  noble,  more  upright,  more  Jewish,  has 
rarely  been  among  us,  and  this  soul  beautified  and 
ennobled  and  hallowed  many  another  soul  with 
which  it  came  in  closer  contact.  And  they  all  will 
join  in  the  cry  coming  from  Breslau,  and  mingle  their 
tears  with  those  shed  by  his  friends  and  pupils.  They 
will  bless  the  hour  that  brought  them  in  touch  with 
Badt,  and  will  cherish  his  memory  until  they  them- 
selves become  a  memory. 

PIK  rvmsD  |'TT»  ^  nn 
nw  'ate  rvBtn  IDS? 
1;  nv»  ^33  'rvD 

133 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH 
"WISSENCHAFT."* 

SEVERAL  years  ago,  when  Death  began  to  reap 
his  harvest  among  the  ancient  masters  of  Jewish 
learning,  I  happened  to  attend  a  gathering  of  stu- 
dents, all  of  whom  acknowledged  themselves  as  the 
disciples  of  Zunz,  Graetz,  Geiger,  Frankel,  and  their 
colleagues.  They  had  assembled  with  the  purpose 
of  holding  a  sort  of  informal  memorial  service,  in 
memory  of  these  great  men.  I  say  "informal,"  be- 
cause, instead  of  commencing  with  eloquent  addresses, 
enlarging  on  the  merits  of  the  departed,  the  meeting 
opened  with  a  long  silence.  I  must  further  state 
that  these  students  belonged  to  a  school  which  held 
the  most  peculiar  views.  For  instance,  Wellhausen 
was  not  considered  by  them  as  the  oracle  in  problems 
bearing  upon  the  rise  and  development  of  Jewish 
sects,  nor  were  for  them  the  views  of  Schuerer  and 
Bousset  decisive  in  questions  relating  to  Rabbinism. 
They  had  even  their  doubts  as  to  the  infallibility  of 
Protestant  encyclopedias  in  matters  bearing  upon 
Jewish  history  and  Jewish  theology;  they  were  old- 
fashioned  enough  to  prefer  consulting,  in  all  these 
matters,  such  authorities  as  were  able  to  derive  their 
information  from  the  Hebrew  sources  in  the  original 

*Lecture  forming  the  first  of  a  series  of  ten  Lectures  on  the 
Genizah,  delivered  at  the  Dropsie  College,  Philadelphia, 
1910.  It  appears  here  in  expanded  form. 


1 74  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

and  did  actually  read  them  before  passing  judgment 
upon  their  importance  or  worthlessness.  They  were 
thus,  in  their  researches,  mainly  dependent  upon 
those  whose  disappearance  left  them,  to  use  the  old 
Talmudic  expression,  an  "orphaned  generation." 
The  mourning  was  sincere  and  too  deep  for  words, 
and  the  assembly  abandoned  itself  to  contemplation, 
or  rather  to  brooding  over  its  great  losses. 

The  silence,  however,  was  soon  broken  by  a  re- 
mark coming  from  the  Nestor  of  the  gathering, 
running  as  follows:  "True,  my  friends,  the  loss  of 
these  masters  is  irreparable,  but,  forget  not  that 
their  work  was  completely  done,  to  which  they  could 
not  have  added  even  if  a  longer  life  had  been  granted 
to  them.  Life  was  not  any  more  worth  living  for 
them.  Our  libraries  have  already  been  explored; 
our  manuscripts  have  already  been  examined;  our 
catalogues  have  already  been  compiled;  our  history 
has  already  been  written ;  our  liturgy  has  already  been 
described,  and  the  greatest  part  of  the  Talmud  and 
the  Midrashim  have  already  been  scientifically  edited. 
The  records  of  the  past  are  now  a  matter  of  the  past. 
The  future  affords  little  scope  for  learned  research." 
These  words  were  meant  as  a  tribute  to  the  dead,  and 
not  less  as  a  consolation  to  the  living.  But  the 
speaker  proved  to  be  rather  a  Job's  comforter, 
implying,  as  his  words  did,  that  those  of  the  younger 
generation  had  better  abdicate  their  scholarly  activity, 
and  wait  patiently  for  absorption  into  the  great 
"intellectual  All" — or,  perhaps,  betake  themselves 
into  the  region  of  "Latter-day  Seers  and  Prophets." 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT        175 

A  heated  discussion  then  ensued,  some  siding  with 
the  speaker,  others  contesting  the  truth  of  his  sweep- 
ing statement. 

The  arguments  of  the  speaker  were  largely  of  a 
statistical  nature.  He  pointed  proudly  at  the  stately 
arrays  of  shelves,  accommodating  a  large  number  of 
volumes,  which,  for  want  of  some  better  term,  may  be 
roughly  comprised  under  the  designation  of  Judaica, 
and  certainly  imposing  by  their  quantity;  as  to 
quality,  suffice  it  to  mention  that  they  included  such 
works  as  Zunz's  Gottesdienstlichen  Vortroege,  Fraenkel's 
Introductions  to  the  Mishna  and  the  Talmud  of  Jeru- 
salem, Geiger's  Urschrift,  Graetz's  History,  and 
Steinschneider's  Catalogue  of  the  Bodleian  Library. 
If  we  further  add  the  great  number  of  dissertations 
on  Jewish  topics,  and  the  larger  number  of  articles 
scattered  over  various  periodicals,  which  together 
embrace  almost  all  departments  of  Jewish  Wissen- 
schaft,  we  shall  recognize  at  once  the  force  of  the 
argument  of  our  pessimistic  speaker.  Yet,  he  was 
entirely  wrong  in  his  conclusions.  Like  all  statis- 
ticians, he  was  too  much  impressed  by  numbers,  and, 
as  a  pessimist,  he  had  no  eye  for  the  future  with  its 
glorious  possibilities. 

The  growth  of  Jewish  Wissenschaft  is  a  matter  of 
comparatively  recent  date,  going  back  only  a  few 
generations.  This  does  not  imply  that  Jewish 
Wissenschaft  is,  as  some  claim,  a  product  of  the 
Reform  or  Rationalistic  movement  in  Judaism. 
Rationalism,  as  history  testifies,  has  never  proved  a 
real  friend  to  learning.  It  has  little  desire  for  the 


176  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

opinions  of  the  ancients;  and  it  is  amply  satisfied 
with  its  five-  or  eight-cubit  library,  in  which  there  is 
hardly  room  for  the  Bible,  and  certainly  none  for  the 
vast  literature  which  the  Bible  has  produced.  In  its 
initial  stages,  while  public  opinion  was  still  anxious 
for  precedent  and  authority,  it  may  sometimes  have 
enlisted  Wissenschaft  as  its  auxiliary;  but  it  emanci- 
pated itself  from  it  soon  enough,  as  from  a  useless 
burden,  when  the  people  became  callous  and  indiffer- 
ent and  put  their  Judaism  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver. 
It  may  further  be  pointed  out  that  the  masters  of 
Jewish  learning  were  not  slow  to  see  that  the  Ration- 
alistic or  Reform  movement  was  not  always  a  very 
trustworthy  ally.  Any  one  who  doubts  this  might 
pause  to  ask  himself  how  it  came  to  pass  that  such 
men  as  Krochmal,  Rappaport,  Zunz,  Frankel,  Sachs, 
Jacob  Bernays,  Luzzatto,  Chayess,  Joel,  Graetz, 
Steinschneider  and  a  host  of  others,  were  either 
directly  hostile  to  this  movement,  or  abandoned  it 
after  a  short  connection,  or  at  least  remained  entirely 
indifferent  to  its  claims.  If  a  census  should  be  taken 
of  all  those  who  made  their  mark  in  any  department 
of  Jewish  learning  by  a  really  original  contribution — 
I  am  not  speaking  of  dilettanti  and  journalists — it 
would  be  found  that  at  least  90  per  cent,  were  either 
directly  opposed  to  the  Reform  movement,  or  ignored 
its  existence  altogether.  Did  Jewish  students  as 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century  foresee,  per- 
haps, that  "modernity,"  notwithstanding  its  "en- 
thusiasm about  the  study  of  the  sources,"  would  in 
the  end  prove  a  menace  to  learning,  which  it  really 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         177 

is  in  our  days,  parading  its  contempt  of  all  scholar- 
ship, just  as  the  Chasidim  did  at  an  early  period  of 
their  existence? 

As  a  fact,  the  study  of  the  sources  did  not  yield 
the  results  which  the  Reform  movement  had  expected. 
Philology  may  have  detected  many  a  flaw  in  many  a 
Talmudic  argument,  and  proved  that  the  interpreta- 
tions of  the  more  ancient  sources  of  the  Babylonian 
or  even  the  Palestinian  schools  were  homiletical 
rather  than  exegetical;  whilst  history  may  have  dis- 
covered that  certain  usages  and  even  certain  beliefs 
were  of  a  foreign  origin;  but  the  same  instruments 
of  research  helped  to  reveal  the  following  important 
facts.  First,  that  Judaism  was  an  organism  with  a 
natural  growth,  rooted  in  the  Torah;  the  inheritance 
of  the  congregation  of  Jacob,  not  the  artificial  prod- 
uct of  Rabbinical  conferences,  commissions  and 
sub-committees.  It  grew  out  of  the  tree  of  Life, 
the  Torah,  whose  commandments  were  never  put 
to  a  vote;  never  did  Jewish  authorities  meet  with  the 
purpose  of  accepting  a  foreign  belief  or  un-Jewish 
usages.  The  injunction  of  the  Law — "Inquire  not 
after  their  gods,  saying  'How  did  these  nations  serve 
their  gods?  Even  so  I  will  do  likewise'  "  (Deut. 
12:  30) — an  injunction  specially  applicable  to 
worship,  was  always  before  their  eyes.  That  certain 
foreign  beliefs  and  foreign  usages  should  creep  in 
was  unavoidable,  as  Israel  neither  could  nor  would 
shut  itself  off  entirely  from  the  influences  of  the  outside 
world.  But  they  had  to  pass  through  that  process 
of  assimilation  to  things  Jewish,  and  of  elimination 


178  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

of  things  un- Jewish,  which  was  strongly  at  work 
in  the  Synagogue;  and  through  this  their  trans- 
formation and  complete  conversion  to  Judaism,  so 
to  speak,  were  effected.  It  will  suffice  to  recall  here — 
with  particular  reference  to  beliefs — the  history  of 
the  "Logos"  in  its  various  metamorphoses  in  the 
Church,  and  its  different  history  in  the  Synagogue. 

Secondly,  research  has  proved  that  the  Torah, 
even  within  the  limits  of  the  Pentateuch,  is  the  very 
life  of  Judaism,  and  that  its  abrogation  means  death. 
Against  this  stronghold,  which,  as  history  testifies, 
Israel  defended  with  its  very  life,  were  directed  all 
the  attacks  of  both  Pagan  and  Christian  fanaticism, 
and  the  battle  is  now  continued  by  our  modern  "ama- 
teur Gentiles."  The  Sabbath  and  the  Covenant  of 
Abraham  are  especially  mentioned  as  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Torah  for  which  Israel  had  under- 
gone martyrdom.  And  the  mere  thought  that  the 
abolition  of  such  laws  should  be  discussed  and  reported 
upon  by  appointed  commissions  is  appalling  and 
abhorrent  to  the  Jewish  historical  conscience.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  the  retention  of  Hebrew  in  the 
Synagogue;  for  though  a  certain  Halachah  offers 
concessions  in  this  respect,  history  teaches  that 
Judaism,  by  the  mere  instinct  of  self-preservation, 
rarely,  if  ever,  made  use  in  the  Synagogue  of  any  other 
but  the  sacred  language.  The  assertion  that  the 
Jewish  historian  Herzfeld,  in  his  objection  to  the 
replacing  of  Hebrew  by  German  in  the  Synagogue 
was  moved  by  sentiment  or  romantic  reasons,  cannot 
be  entertained  for  a  moment.  Any  man  who  has  ever 
read  Herzf eld's  Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel — which  is, 
indeed,  very  hard  reading,  and  taxes  all  the  powers 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         179 

of  the  student — knows  how  little  its  author  was  given 
to  romanticism  and  sentimentalism.  A  more  sober 
and  dry — though  a  very  painstaking — scholar  never 
lived.  But  he  was  an  historian  after  all,  and  could 
not  well  agree  to  the  entire  banishment  of  the  Hebrew 
language  from  the  Synagogue;  for  this  would  mean, 
as  he  himself  expresses  it,  'The  abandoning  of  our 
positive  historical  standpoint."  Altogether  it  seems 
that  these  "hard-shell"  modernists  think  that  they 
have  only  to  stigmatize  a  man  as  a  romanticist, 
or  a  thing  as  savouring  of  romanticism,  to  eliminate 
them  from  further  consideration.  The  savage  chief 
in  Africa  thinks  the  Christian  missionary,  who  en- 
deavors to  beautify  his  cottage  by  his  little  garden 
of  flowers,  a  useless  romanticist,  as  he  could  better 
employ  his  time  and  his  money  by  cultivating  sweet 
potatoes  and  corn.  The  Lyceum  philosopher,  with 
his  universal  ignorance,  looks  contemptuously  upon 
the  quiet  scholar  who  is  blinding  himself  with  the 
deciphering  of  MSS.  or  the  interpretation  of  the 
great  ideas  of  the  heroes  of  the  world,  as  a  romanticist, 
who  could  better  spend  his  time  in  the  writing  of  a 
slashing  article  or  an  eloquent  address,  which, 
indeed,  would  be  more  profitable  to  his  reputation 
with  the  mob.  George  Eliot  describes  romanticism 
as  the  thing  which  helps  to  fill  some  dull  blanks  with 
love  and  knowledge.  The  mission  of  the  scholar  in 
our  time  seems  to  be  to  fill  some  dull  minds  with 
love  and  knowledge  of  things  sacred  and  sublime, 
which  things  bourgeois  philosophy  declares  to  be  and 
endeavors  to  make  blank  and  void. 

Thirdly,   research   has  taught  that  universalistic 
Judaism,  propagated  by  means  of  abolishing  the  Law 


180  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

and  at  the  risk  of  the  final  absorption  of  Israel  by  its 
surroundings,  is  in  contradiction  to  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible,  the  teachings  of  the  Talmud,  and  all 
Jewish  opinion  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  antiq- 
uity, from  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  from  modern 
times  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  It 
is  anti-prophetical — unless,  in  a  Christian  spirit,  we 
sterilize  the  nationalistic  passages  pervading  the  whole 
of  the  Bible.  It  is  anti-Rabbinical — unless  we  tear 
out  passages  from  the  contexts  and  pervert  their 
meaning.  In  brief,  it  is  non-Jewish  and  un-Jewish. 
It  has  no  root  and  no  room  in  Jewish  thought,  and 
derives  its  pedigree  from  Paul's  Epistles. 

It  is  not,  then,  to  reform  tendencies  that  we  are 
to  look  for  the  main  impulse  and  continuous  encour- 
agement of  Jewish  learning.  The  scientific  movement 
began  long  before  the  looming  of  Rationalism.  The 
first  attempt,  indeed,  towards  the  building  up  of  a 
Jewish  science  was  given  by  R.  Azariah  de  Rossi, 
the  author  of  the  Meor  Enayim,  who  flourished  about 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  De  Rossi,  however, 
was  out  of  date  with  his  criticism,  and  for  reasons 
which  cannot  be  entered  upon  here  he  left  no  real 
impress  on  his  time.  More  successful  in  their  at- 
tempts, though  they  were  hardly  conscious  of  the 
nature  of  their  work  of  regeneration,  were  two 
Lithuanian  Jews  of  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  R.  Elijah,  of  Wilna,  commonly  called  "the 
Gaon  of  Wilna,"  and  R.  Jechiel  Heilperin,  of  Minsk. 
The  latter  is  best  known  by  his  work,  Seder  Ha- 
Doroth,  or  the  .  Chronology  of  the  Generations,  which 
deals  especially  with  the  successive  generations  of 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         181 

the  Tannaim  and  Amoraim.  It  is  now  superseded, 
in  parts  at  least,  by  works  of  a  more  recent  date,  but 
only  one  who  knows  for  how  many  centuries  this 
branch  of  study  was  almost  entirely  neglected,  can 
appreciate  what  it  meant  to  prove  for  the  first  time 
that  there  existed  such  a  thing  as  a  science  of  Rab- 
binical succession,  which  alone  can  establish  the 
claims  of  tradition.  The  book  further  proves  the 
danger  of  the  terrible  thing  called  anachronism,  against 
which  scholars  have  always  to  be  on  their  guard. 
We  have  now  some  better  books  on  this  subject,  but 
they  would  never  have  been  written  without  the  aid 
of  the  monumental  work  of  Heilperin,  who  first 
collected  the  materials  in  a  systematic  way  and  so 
made  possible  the  task  of  the  historians,  who  both 
exploited  and  patronized  him. 

Of  even  greater  significance  was  the  work  of  "the 
Gaon."  If  there  ever  was  a  prince  in  Israel,  reigning 
supreme  in  its  intellectual  world,  it  was  the  Gaon  of 
Wilna.  He  mastered  it  all;  the  whole  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, as  well  as  its  Targumim;  the  whole  of  theMish- 
nah,  as  well  as  the  Tosephta  and  other  products  of 
the  Tannaim;  the  whole  of  the  Talmud;  the  Talmud 
of  Babylon,  as  well  as  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem;  the 
whole  of  the  Midrashim;  the  Midrash  Halacha,  as 
well  as  the  Midrash  Haggada,  in  addition  to  that 
vast  Responsa  literature  of  Commentaries,  Codes, 
Responsa,  philosophic  and  mystical  treatises,  and 
edifying  works,  which  grew  up  during  the  last  eigh- 
teen centuries.  What  is  of  pre-eminent  importance 
is  his  attitude  towards  the  commentaries;  more 
particularly  the  commentaries  to  the  earlier  Rabbinic 


182  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

works  which  embody  Jewish  tradition,  such  as  the 
Talmud,  the  Mishnah,  and  the  Midrash,  etc.  The 
defect  of  many  of  these  commentaries  consisted 
largely  in  the  fact  that  they  failed  to  comply  with 
the  principle  laid  down  by  R.  Hai  Gaon.  This  is 
to  the  effect  that  the  first  duty  of  a  commentator  is 
to  convey  correctly  the  views  of  his  author,  and  not 
to  intrude  upon  them  with  views  of  his  own.  The 
rationalistic,  and  not  less  the  mystical  schools  were, 
as  is  well  known,  great  sinners  in  this  respect.  How- 
ever, it  is  not  for  modernism  to  throw  the  first  stone. 
In  our  eagerness  to  adapt  Judaism  to  all  things  pos- 
sible and  impossible,  we  occasionally  force  upon  the 
Talmud  and  the  Bible  up-to-date  opinions,  upon 
which  Sage  and  Seer  could  have  looked  only  with 
horror  and  dismay.  But  even  those  commentators 
who  owed  no  allegiance  to  any  particular  school, 
have  not  always  been  successful  in  their  endeavor 
to  give  us  the  exact  meanings  of  the  words  of  their 
authors.  And  this  for  the  simple  reason  that  these 
words  often  came  down  to  them  in  such  a  fragmentary 
form  or  such  a  corrupt  text,  that  they  defied  all 
explanation.  This  is  the  case  with  all  ancient  liter- 
ature, as  everybody  knows  who  has  read  a  classic 
coming  from  antiquity.  But  the  difficulties  increase 
with  the  Talmud,  when  one  considers  its  peculiar 
form,  its  elliptical  sentences,  its  rambling  style,  and, 
above  all,  the  abrupt  and  uncertain  methods  of 
its  compilers. 

These  difficulties  the  Gaon  endeavored  to  sur- 
mount by  applying  to  the  Rabbinic  literature  the 
old  Rabbinic  rule,  "The  words  of  the  Torah  are  poor 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         183 

in  the  one  place,  but  wealthy  in  another!"  Through 
his  acquaintance  with  the  whole  of  the  Torah,  he  had 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  the  wealthy  places.  If 
there  was  a  difficult  passage  in  this  or  that  tractate, 
he  showed,  by  giving  a  reference  to  some  other  place, 
that  it  was  wanting  in  some  words  or  lines.  Obscure 
passages  in  the  Mishnah  he  tried  to  eludicate  by 
parallel  passages  in  the  Tosephta,  or  in  the  Mechilta 
or  the  Sifra.  The  complicated  controversies  of  the 
Babylonian  Talmud  he  tried  to  explain  by  comparing 
them  with  the  passages  in  the  simpler  Talmud  of 
Jerusalem.  If  we  remember  that  it  was  just  these 
ancient  Rabbinic  productions,  which  were  neglected 
for  centuries,  we  shall  at  once  appreciate  his  great- 
ness. He  almost  re-discovered  them.  Nor  was  he 
satisfied  with  the  mere  joy  of  the  discovery;  he  wrote 
commentaries  or  glosses  in  a  brief,  concise  way  to 
almost  the  whole  of  the  ancient  Jewish  literature, 
including  the  Talmud  of  Babylon,  always  remaining 
true  to  his  principle  that  the  author  has  to  explain 
himself.  With  this  great  contribution  the  founda- 
tions for  textual  criticism  were  laid. 

The  other  places,  however,  in  which  the  wealth  of 
the  Torah  is  to  be  found  have,  in  numberless  cases, 
proved  to  be  manuscripts  or  rare  prints.  Unfortu- 
nately, they  were  largely  out  of  the  reach  of  the  Gaon. 
A  few  manuscripts  may,  perhaps,  have  been  in  his 
possession,  as  is  implied  occasionally  by  some  of  his 
emendations.  But,  even  if  this  be  the  case,  their 
number  must  have  been  very  small;  it  may  be  fairly 
doubted  whether  the  Gaon  had  seen  in  his  life  more 
than  half  a  dozen.  As  to  rare  prints  and  early 


184  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

editions,  I  hardly  believe  that  he  ever  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  make  use  of  them;  the  regular  Hebrew 
library,  in  a  Russian  community  consisted  as  a  rule 
of  cheap  editions  of  the  Bible,  the  Talmud,  and  other 
standard  books  of  the  Rabbinic  literature  essential  to 
the  practicing  rabbi,  but  little  beyond  this.  Private 
collections  were  very  few.  As  to  public  collections, 
neither  the  Polish,  nor  the  Russian,  nor  even  the 
German  Government  possessed  at  that  time  many 
Hebrew  books  in  their  national  libraries;  whilst  the 
few  libraries  in  France  and  in  Italy  and  other  places, 
which  included  Hebrew  collections,  were  not  access- 
ible to  the  Jews.  As  far  as  our  knowledge  goes  (but 
I  must  admit  that  the  matter  has  never  been  properly 
investigated),  the  first  Jew  who  was  admitted  to  any 
public  library  was  R.  Chayim  Joseph  David  Azulai. 
He  made  an  entry  of  this  fact  in  his  diary,  Maagal 
Tob.  The  great  event  occurred  on  the  6th  of  "Te- 
beth,"  in  the  year  1778,  when  he  went  with  his 
friend,  a  Gentile,  to  the  library  of  Paris,  in  which  he 
saw  thousands  of  manuscripts  "in  all  wisdoms"  (or 
subjects).  He  saw  also  hundreds  of  Hebrew  manu- 
scripts, a  Bible  on  parchment,  717  years  old,  and  ever 
so  many  books  on  philosophy,  astronomy,  early 
Kabbala  and  other  important  books.  This  liberality 
towards  Azulai  was  probably  a  consequence  of  his 
having  enjoyed  the  reputation  that  it  was  in  his  power 
to  work  miracles  by  means  of  amulets.  The  French 
nobles  of  the  period  preceding  the  great  Revolution, 
with  all  their  rationalism,  were  by  no  means  insensible 
to  these  occult  powers  of  Azulai,  and  asked  both  for 
his  blessing  and  his  amulets.  But  it  must  be  admitted 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT        185 

that  Azulai  made  the  best  of  his  opportunities,  as 
will  be  seen  from  another  entry  in  the  same  diary: 
"Thursday: — The  Marquis  and  his  wife  came  and 
seated  themselves  near  me,  and  she  asked  me  to  pray 
for  her.  She  also  told  me  that  she  reads  the  Bible. 
Further,  that  she  sometimes  sees  angels  and  demons, 
who  address  her.  Among  others  she  also  mentioned 
the  Baal-Shem  of  London[this  the  well-known  Falk]. 
She  told  me  also  that  a  Jew  gave  her  a  Kabbalistic 
book  and  recounted  to  me  other  wonderful  things. 
I  answered  several  questions  which  she  put  to  me. 
And  on  that  day  I  went  to  the  Library  of  Manu- 
scripts and  copied  a  part  of  the  commentaries  of  R. 
Isaiah  of  Trani.  I  went  about  the  Library,  in  which 
they  have  ever  so  many  manuscripts  written  in 
numerous  languages,  and  bearing  upon  all  wisdoms 
and  religions.  The  collection  also  contains  a  long 
book  written  on  broad  leaves  of  the  palm  branch — 
Lulab,"  (perhaps  he  meant  papyrus). 

To  return  to  the  Gaon.  That  Rabbi  Elijah  of 
Wilna  was  not  quite  insensible  to  the  wealth  of  the 
Torah  buried  in  inaccessible  MSS.  may  be  concluded 
from  the  book,  (Rab  Poolim)  by  his  son,  R.  Abraham 
Wilna.  R.  Abraham  died  in  1809,  but  his  book  re- 
mained in  manuscript  for  eighty-five  years,  when  it 
was  published  by  Herr  Chanes.  Its  contents  often 
remind  us  of  Zunz's  Gottesdienstlichen  Vortraege,  but 
it  was  chiefly  intended  to  furnish  a  list  of  the  lost 
Midrashim  and  other  ancient  Rabbinic  works  known 
only  from  quotations,  and  it  was  written  with  the 
set  purpose  of  inaugurating  a  systematic  search  after 
these  works.  "How  shall  we  search,"  R.  Abraham 


186  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

says,  "if  we  are  quite  ignorant  of  our  losses?"  Here 
the  influence  of  the  Gaon  is  visible;  for  the  regular 
Rabbinic  students  of  the  time  were,  as  already  indi- 
cated, quite  satisfied  with  the  literature  at  their 
disposal,  which  was  adequate  for  practical  purposes. 
Besides  R.  Abraham,  we  may  mention  here  a  few 
other  Russian  scholars  who  came  under  the  Gaon's 
influence;  such  as  R.  Abigdor  of  Slonim,  the  commen- 
tator of  the  Tosephta;  and  R.  Enoch  Zindel,  the 
annotator  of  several  Midrashim.  The  greatest, 
though  the  youngest,  of  this  school  was,  undoubtedly, 
R.  Raphael  Rabbinowitz,  the  author  of  the  Variae 
Lectiones  to  the  Talmud  of  Babylon,  which  is  a 
marvel  of  industry,  learning,  and  sound  criticism. 
Unfortunately,  the  work  was  interrupted  by  the 
death  of  the  author  when  it  reached  the  fifteenth 
volume.  How  far  R.  Isaiah  Pick  of  Breslau,  who 
worked  on  the  same  lines  as  the  Gaon,  was  influenced 
by  him,  I  am  unable  to  say. 

But  neither  Pick  nor  the  Gaon  had  any  immediate 
influence  upon  their  successors  in  Germany.  The 
rationalistic  school,  succeeding  Mendelssohn,  had 
very  little  use  for  manuscripts.  I  dare  say  that  even 
the  printed  books  were  too  many  for  them.  They 
were  a  set  of  mere  dilettanti  who  cared  to  study  as 
little  and  write  as  much  as  possible.  One  need  only 
read  Peter  Beer's  book  on  The  Sects  and  Hertz 
Homberg's  Catechism  to  see  how  little  the  one  was 
of  an  historian  and  the  other  of  a  theologian. 

Jewish  science  in  Germany  only  began  with  the 
ebb  of  the  rationalistic  wave,  which  swept  over 
Germany  during  the  French  Revolution.  When  it 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         187 

has  spent  its  force,  men  go  back  to  history,  and  the 
past  is  restored  to  its  rights  but  not  to  its  wrongs. 
This  tendency  was  felt  everywhere,  by  Krochmal, 
Rappaport,  and  Chayess  in  the  East,  as  well  as  Zunz, 
Fraenkel,  Sachs,  Graetz,  and  others  in  the  West- 
To  mention  here  only  the  first  of  these  luminaries 
in  each  series,  we  can  point  to  Rappaport's  famous 
biographies  of  R.  Saadya  Gaon,  of  R.  Nathan,  the 
author  of  the  Aruch,  of  R.  Hai  Gaon,  the  last  of  the 
Gaonim,  of  R.  Eliezer  Kalir,  the  great  liturgical 
poet,  and  of  R.  Hananel,  and  of  R.  Nissim  of  Cairo- 
wan.  In  Germany  we  have  Zunz's  Gottesdienstlichen 
Vortraege.  Each  of  these  productions  was  epoch- 
making  in  its  time,  opening  new  worlds  to  students. 
The  men,  for  instance,  who  formed  the  subject  of 
Rappaport's  researches  were  not  mere  individuals, 
but  heads  of  schools,  of  either  Talmudical  or  litur- 
gical schools,  as  in  the  case  of  Nathan  and  Kalir; 
Hananel  and  Nissim,  again,  ushered  in  a  new  wpoch 
in  which  the  Torah  was  decentralised  from  Babylon, 
and  new  seats  of  learning  were  established  in  different 
parts  of  the  world.  As  to  Zunz's  Gottesdienstlichen 
Vortraege,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  is  practically  a 
history  of  tradition  in  its  Agadic  aspect.  As  is  clear 
from  the  contents  of  the  book,  it  very  soon  outgrew 
the  narrow  plan  of  the  author,  who  began  it  with  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  propriety  of  the  sermon  in 
the  vernacular  in  the  Synagogue.  An  essay  of  twenty 
pages  would  have  amply  served  this  purpose.  Nor 
was  there,  as  subsequent  history  showed,  any  real 
objection  to  the  sermon  as  such.  No  protest  was  ever 
raised  in  Russia  or  Poland  or  Lithuania  against  the 


1 88  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

Maggid  or  the  Darshan.  The  real  objection  was,  in 
many  cases,  to  the  undue  importance  given  to  the 
sermon,  which  made  it  likely  to  supersede  worship, 
"so  that  it  was  he,  not  He,  who  was  the  center  of 
attraction,"  and  to  the  preacher  himself,  who  was 
not  in  every  congregation  distinguished  by  his  loyalty 
to  traditional  Judaism,  and  lastly,  to  the  contents 
of  the  sermon,  which  were  not  always  in  harmony 
with  the  teachings  of  Judaism. 

The  books  which  Zunz  and  Rappaport  and  their 
contemporaries  consulted  in  their  gigantic  works  were 
certainly  more  numerous  than  those  which  were  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Gaon.  The  later  masters  had  also 
the  advantage  of  being  acquainted  more  or  less  with 
the  classical  idioms,  as  well  as  the  cognate  Semitic 
dialects,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  Aramaic, 
remained  a  sealed  book  to  the  Gaon  and  his  school. 
But  the  number  of  manuscripts  they  consulted  was 
certainly  not  large.  It  is  enough  to  record  here  that 
Zunz  had  hardly  occasion  to  consult  half  a  dozen 
when  writing  the  Gottesdienstlichen  Vortraege.  It  was 
only  in  later  life  that  he  examined  the  collections  of 
the  Bodleian  Library  in  Oxford  and  of  the  British 
Museum  in  London,  which  laid  the  foundation  for 
his  works  on  the  liturgy  and  hymnology  of  the 
Synagogue.  He  travelled  also  in  Italy,  where  he 
examined  the  contents  of  various  libraries,  but,  as  is 
clear  from  this  article,  Die  Hebraeischen  Handschriften 
in  Italien,  he  was  not  admitted  to  the  Vatican. 
There,  as  he  expresses  himself  in  a  rather  midrashic 
manner,  "the  Dragon  was  still  blocking  the  way  to 
the  Hebrew  collections."  Much  smaller  were  the 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT        189 

opportunities  for  using  manuscripts  given  to  Rappa- 
port,  Chayess,  Krochmal,  and  other  builders  of 
Jewish  science.  Rappaport's  main  source  for  informa- 
tion contained  in  manuscripts  was  the  great  Samuel 
David  Luzzatto  of  Padua,  who  supplied  his  friend 
as  well  as  other  scholars  with  extracts  from  his  library, 
which  was  a  real  treasure  of  rare  prints  and  Hebrew 
manuscripts.  The  majority  of  workers,  however, 
had  little  or  no  access  to  great  libraries,  and  were 
dependent  upon  the  small  collections  of  their  native 
cities,  which  both  in  Germany  and  the  bordering 
countries,  as  a  rule,  were  neither  rich  nor  very  select. 
Considering,  on  the  one  hand,  the  vast  domain  of 
Rabbinic  literature  extending  over  two  thousand 
years,  and  on  the  other,  the  poverty  of  Jewish  scholars 
and  the  paucity  of  those  able  to  travel  extensively, 
it  is  clear  that  it  was  only  a  very  small  proportion  of 
their  work  to  which  they  could  apply  the  critical 
apparatus  which  largely  depends  on  great  libraries. 
It  will  suffice  to  state  here  the  fact  that  neither  Weiss, 
the  author  of  the  History  of  Tradition,  nor  Fried- 
mann,  the  greatest  of  our  editors  of  ancient  Rab- 
binical texts,  was  ever  in  a  position  to  travel  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  the  contents  of  the  great  libra- 
ries of  Europe.  The  only  collections  to  which  they 
had  access  were  the  Vienna  Beth-Hamidrash  Library, 
and  the  few  Hebrew  MSS.  deposited  in  the  Imperial 
Library  of  Austria. 

Now  we  are  thoroughly  grateful  for  the  good 
things  received,  but  there  is  still  much  more  in  store 
for  us  to  be  received.  The  Gottesdienstlichen  Vor- 
traege,  which  will  always  remain  a  standard  work, 


190  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

is  now,  in  many  places,  in  need  of  revision,  because  of 
the  various  Rabbinic  works  published  from  manu- 
script since  1835.  The  editions  of  Friedmann,  which 
are  and  will  always  remain  models  of  scientific 
workmanship,  would  also  bear  a  new  edition,  especially 
the  Mechilta  and  the  Sifre,  for  which  he  hardly  had 
any  manuscript  at  his  disposal.  In  the  Midrash 
Agada,  Buber  was  especially  active,  and  we  are 
grateful  to  him  for  ever  so  many  smaller  and  larger 
Agadic  works,  which  he  published  from  manuscripts; 
but  of  the  main  Midrashim,  that  is,  the  Midrash 
Rabba  to  the  Five  Books  of  Moses,  we  have  only 
about  a  third  part  of  the  Midrash  to  Genesis  properly 
edited  by  Dr.  Theodor.  Of  the  Tosephta,  we  have 
an  edition  of  Zuckermandl,  which,  however  imperfect, 
gives  us  the  Erfurt  and  Vienna  manuscripts  of  this 
Tannaitic  collection.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have 
as  yet  no  scientific  edition  of  the  Misnah,  the  main 
authority  of  traditional  Judaism.  All  that  we  possess 
is  a  reprint  of  the  Cambridge  manuscript,  and  a  good 
edition  of  Pirke  Aboth,  by  the  late  Dr.  Taylor.  But 
of  the  most  important  manuscript,  which  is  in  Parma, 
and  of  another  in  the  possession  of  the  Budapest 
Academy,  hardly  any  use  has  been  made.  Of  the 
Talmud  of  Babylon,  we  have  the  Variae  Lectiones 
compiled  by  Rabbinowitz,  but  his  work,  as  mentioned 
above,  remains  unfinished  because  of  his  early  death. 
For  a  proper  edition  of  the  Talmud  of  Jerusalem,  we 
are  only  now  beginning  to  collect  materials. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  preceding  remarks,  that  our 
libraries  have  not  yet  been  thoroughly  explored. 
Indeed,  they  would  bear  exploration  for  another 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT         191 

generation;  and  even  such  as  are  most  accessible,  the 
British  Museum  and  the  Bodleian  Library,  are  by  no 
means  exhausted.  As  to  those  less  accessible,  such 
as  the  Library  at  Parma,  for  instance,  it  is  just 
touched  on  the  surface,  notwithstanding  the  many 
pilgrimages  of  Zunz,  Berliner,  and  others.  Nor  have 
our  great  standard  works  been  edited;  we  are  just 
beginning  to  collect  materials  for  really  scientific 
editions.  Our  history,  it  is  true,  was  written  by  Graetz, 
not  to  mention  the  contributions  by  Jost,  Kayser- 
ling,  and  others.  But  the  materials  at  their  command 
were  decidedly  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  the 
work  of  their  successors  superfluous.  Let  me  not  be 
misunderstood;  I  do  not  belong  to  the  detractors  of 
Graetz,  whose  history  will  always  remain  a  monu- 
mental work.  His  notes  and  appendices  are  sufficient 
to  place  him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  our  historians. 
It  is  true  that  he  was  not  entirely  impartial,  but  I 
have  often  observed  that  impartiality  in  history  means 
as  much  as  unsectarianism  in  religion.  In  religion, 
or  rather  theology,  it  implies  admiring  all  other 
religions  but  your  own ;  in  history  it  stands  for  toady- 
ing to  your  antagonists  and  losing  all  understanding 
for  yourself.  It  may  further  be  true  that  a  certain 
rationalism,  from  which  few  German  scholars  of 
that  generation  could  emancipate  themselves,  made 
Graetz  rather  unfair  towards  mysticism  and  Russian 
Judaism;  but  this  could  easily  be  corrected.  What 
his  work  really  suffered  in  was  the  insufficiency  of 
materials  at  his  disposal.  He  had  very  few  manu- 
scripts to  furnish  him  with  facts,  and  thus  was  too 
much  dependent  on  hypothesis.  It  will  suffice  to 


192  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 


mention  here  his  chapter  on  the  history  of  the  Kar- 
aites, which  he  wrote  when  hardly  half  a  dozen  lines 
coming  from  Anan,  the  founder  of  the  sect,  were 
known.  Of  these  few  lines,  Graetz  certainly  made  the 
best  use  possible;  but  now  we  have  large  fragments 
of  Anan's  Book  of  Commandments.  Again,  in  his 
account  of  the  decentralization  of  the  schools  from 
Babylon,  Graetz  had  to  spin  history  from  a  mere 
legend.  The  facts  simply  did  not  exist.  Sometimes 
he  had  to  rely  on  very  faulty  texts  which  he  had  no 
means  of  controlling,  because  of  his  inability  to  travel 
and  to  search  after  MSS.  It  is  mortifying  to  think 
that  he  never,  for  instance,  had  the  opportunity  to 
read  the  Achimaaz  Chronicle,  which  was  buried  in 
some  Spanish  cloister  and  was  edited  only  after  his 
death.  How  different  would  have  been  his  presenta- 
tion of  the  early  history  of  the  Jews  in  the  South  of 
Italy  and  other  places  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, had  he  had  the  good  fortune  to  study  this 
most  interesting  document. 

Foremost  of  all,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  neither  to 
Graetz  nor  to  the  great  majority  of  his  contemporaries 
was  it  granted  to  make  sufficient  use  of  the  opening 
of  the  Orient  with  its  wealth  of  Hebrew  manu- 
scripts. Many  were  already  gone  when  this  event 
took  place.  Even  Rabbinowitz,  who  used  a  larger 
number  of  manuscripts  for  his  Variae  Lectiones  than 
any  other  Jewish  author  has  utilized  for  the  edition 
of  a  single  work,  was  in  the  possession  of  hardly  more 
than  one  Oriental  manuscript,  which  was  presented 
to  him  by  the  Rabbi  of  Cairo.  It  was  only  late  in 
the  sixties  of  the  last  century  that  communication 


BEGINNINGS  OF  JEWISH  WISSENSCHAFT        193 

was  established  with  the  Orient  through  the  efforts 
of  the  famous  traveler,  Jacob  Saphir  of  Jerusalem. 
His  travels  to  Yemen  placed  us  in  the  possession  of 
quite  a  new  class  or  family  of  MSS.,  till  then  entirely 
unknown.  It  gave  us  new  grammarians,  new  com- 
mentators to  the  Bible,  new  liturgies,  new  Divans, 
both  sacred  and  secular,  and  new  Midrashim.  But, 
unfortunately,  in  1870,  when  the  first  results  of  his 
newly  found  treasures  were  published,  many  of  our 
great  scholars  were  already  gone,  whilst  the  few  who 
remained  were  almost  all  too  old  for  work.  Zunz 
himself,  as  far  as  I  know,  only  had  occasion  to  describe 
one  or  two  Yemen  manuscripts  of  a  liturgical  nature. 
Saphir  was  followed  by  other  travellers;  particularly 
by  the  notorious  Shapiro,  who  furnished  the  Euro- 
pean libraries  and  museums  with  many  a  forgery, 
but  also  with  many  a  genuine  old  manuscript  coming 
from  Yemen.  Amongst  these  latter,  the  most  im- 
portant was  probably  the  Midrash  Haggadol,  which, 
in  itself,  forms  a  large  library.  It  is  a  sort  of  homi- 
letical  commentary  to  the  Pentateuch  in  five  volumes; 
but  it  restored  to  us  many  extracts  from  Tannaitic 
works,  whose  existence  was  only  faintly  guessed  by 
scholars.  The  greatest  gift,  however,  which  the 
Orient  has  given  to  us  is  the  Cairo  Genizah,  which, 
with  the  abundance  of  its  material,  the  variety  of 
its  contents,  and  the  wealth  of  its  historical  docu- 
ments, has  made  us  all  feel  that  the  light  has  come 
again  from  the  East,  illumining  our  past  and  strength- 
ening our  hope  for  the  future,  as  no  other  event  in  the 
scholarly  world  during  the  last  centuries  had  done. 
Verily  the  life  of  the  student  is  once  more  worth  living. 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY.* 

PRECIOUS  is  the  seventh,"  is  an  old  Jewish 
adage,  and  it  is  particularly  precious  to  me  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  it  is  for  the  seventh  time  that 
we  are  gathered  in  this  hall  to  confer  the  degrees  of 
Rabbi  and  Doctor  upon  our  students.  It  is  a  sort 
of  Sabbatical  year  in  the  existence  of  the  reorganized 
Seminary,  inviting  in  a  certain  measure  to  rest  and 
recreation,  but  even  more  to  thought  and  reflection. 
The  subject  nearest  to  our  thoughts  on  this 
solemn  occasion  is,  as  hardly  need  be  said,  the  office 
of  the  Rabbi,  his  position  in  the  community,  and  his 
significance  for  the  perpetuation  of  Judaism.  I 
often  had  occasion  to  speak  of  all  these  matters  both 
at  the  Commencements  and  at  other  public  gather- 
ings, so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid  repeti- 
tion. However,  the  nearness  of  the  Feast  of  the 
Revelation,  for  which  we  are  all  now  preparing  (or 
ought  to  prepare),  suggests  some  thoughts  which, 
if  not  quite  new,  will  certainly  be  timely.  I  am  think- 
ing of  the  interpretation  given  by  the  Rabbis  to  the 
commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  thy  God  in  vain."  This  commandment 
some  Rabbis  explain  to  mean,  "Accept  no  dignity  of 
which  thou  art  not  worthy."  Another  Rabbi  further 
illustrates  it  with  the  words,  "I,  God,  am  called  the 
Holy  One,  and  thou  art  called  holy.  Behold,  if  thou 


*Address  delivered  at  the  Graduating  Exercises  of  the  Seminary, 
June  5,  1910. 


196  .      SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

dost  not  possess  all  the  qualities  of  holiness,  accept 
no  dignity."  The  dignity  of  which  our  sages  speak 
in  this  place  is  that  of  Judge  and  Rabbi  in  their 
capacity  as  leaders  of  the  community;  and  the  spec- 
ial divine  attribute  which  they  expect  in  the  leader 
of  a  community  is,  as  you  see,  holiness. 

Holiness  is  a  wide  subject,  offering  many  aspects, 
as  indeed  all  abstract  qualities  do,  but  I  will  only 
urge  here  one  or  two  of  these  which  are  in  need  of  par- 
ticular emphasis.  One  of  its  main  aspects,  according 
to  our  sages,  is  absolute  self-denial.  Indeed,  they 
teach  that  he  who  accepts  any  public  office  with  the 
purpose  of  deriving  from  it  any  personal  gain  com- 
mits an  act  of  gross  immorality.  I  do  not  think  that 
our  sages  would  have  objected  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  Rabbi  by  his  congregation.  The  highest  ideal, 
as  I  had  once  occasion  to  mention,  was  that  the 
Rabbi  should  impart  his  spiritual  bounties  to  his 
congregation  in  the  manner  divine  in  which  all 
blessing  is  a  mere  act  of  grace.  But  except  in  very 
rare  cases,  conditions  made  this  ideal  unattainable, 
and  it  was  soon  found  necessary  that  the  grace  should 
just  as  much  be  exercised  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
munity providing  for  the  material  needs  of  the 
Rabbi,  as  on  the  part  of  the  Rabbi,  who  is  to  watch 
over  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  community.  It  was, 
however,  never  thought  that  the  call  of  this  sacred 
office  should  exactly  become  a  regular  profession  in 
the  sense  of  a  bread-winning  occupation.  The 
divine  call  which  urged  the  young  man  to  devote 
himself  to  the  profession  of  the  Rabbi  always  pre- 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY          197 

ceded  the  formal  call  of  the  community  with  its 
appointments  and  stipulated  contract.  Many  famous 
men  in  Israel  who  wielded  the  greatest  authority 
over  their  contemporaries,  and  even  over  posterity, 
remained  throughout  their  lives  without  such  a 
formal  call.  Maimonides,  for  instance,  never  received 
such  a  call,  and  yet  he  was  considered  the  spiritual 
head  of  Egypt  and  the  neighboring  countries.  And 
least  of  all  would  the  greatness  of  the  Rabbi  ever 
have  been  measured  by  the  favorable  conditions 
regarding  salary  and  other  material  advantages 
stipulated  in  such  a  formal  call,  which  seems  to  have 
become  the  regular  standard  of  Rabbinical  authority 
in  our  times. 

Humility  and  meekness  and  sweet  submission 
are  other  features  of  self-denial.  The  holy  man  is 
certainly  not  a  respecter  of  persons,  nor  does  he  bow 
to  current  opinion  when  not  in  harmony  with  his 
convictions.  He  is  fearless  and  straightforward. 
Yet  he  is  distinguished  by  a  certain  reticence,  by  a 
certain  delicacy  of  feeling,  which  make  him  shrink 
from  everything  loud,  sensational,  and  the  intruding 
of  his  personality  upon  the  public.  He  glories  in  his 
mission,  but  you  will  certainly  never  find  him  doing 
anything  aiming  at  the  glorifying  of  the  missionary. 

Even  in  his  praise  of  his  friends  and  his  colleagues 
he  is  sparing,  strong  as  his  devotion  may  be  to  them, 
as  such  praise  is  seldom  free  from  a  subconscious 
expectation  of  return,  with  interest.  Indeed,  in  the 
constitution  of  a  Rabbinical  Association  (or  Club), 
which  counted  among  its  members  such  men  as 


198  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Azulai,  Galante  and  Buton,  we  find  in  the  by-laws 
that  no  member  should  ever  mention  a  word  in  praise 
of  his  colleagues,  or  even  of  their  leaders.  On  the 
other  hand,  everyone  of  them  was  bound  to  admonish 
his  friend  of  his  shortcomings,  which  the  latter  had 
not  only  to  accept  without  resentment,  but  with 
love  and  gratitude.  I  wish  these  saints  would  have 
left  us  the  minutes  of  their  club.  The  difference 
between  these  and  the  accounts  of  our  present 
gatherings,  religious  and  social,  would  certainly 
have  been  worth  a  study. 

But  let  me  remind  you  at  once  of  the  further 
dictum  of  our  sages,  TDPJ  pKil  Dj;  tff?,  "no  ignorant 
man  can  be'a  saint."  Speaking  in  the  presence  of 
Rabbis,  I  hardly  need  say  that  by  ignorance  I  do  not 
mean  the  absence  of  knowledge  as  a  consequence  of 
a  deficient  training,  though,  unfortunately,  such 
cases  occur.  However,  these  cases  as  a  rule  are  more 
in  the  class  of  "latter-day  prophets"  than  of  Rabbis. 
What  I  mean  by  ignorance  is  that  engendered  by  a 
lack  of  will  or  opportunity  to  continue  those  studies, 
the  foundation  of  which  was  laid  in  halls  such  as 
these.  The  consequence  of  this  ignorance  is  deplor- 
able: an  utter  thoughtlessness  about  all  things 
divine.  The  Rabbi  is  expected  to  "do  things."  Upon 
this  we  are  all  agreed;  but  he  should  also  have  the 
opportunity  to  think  things.  Young  men  in  the 
ministry  sometimes  come  to  me  with  the  complaint 
that  the  communities  in  which  they  are  placed  do 
not  offer  a  sufficient  field  of  work.  My  answer  in 
certain  cases  is:  "If  you  have  time  to  spare  from  all 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY          199 

the  manifold  duties  a  congregation  offers,  social  and 
religious,  the  best  thing  you  might  do  is  to  devote  the 
rest  of  your  time  to  study."  But  I  usually  meet  with 
very  little  response,  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
Rabbi  being  that  the  rumor  of  his  being  "addicted  to 
Jewish  learning"  will  bring  him  into  disrepute  and 
will  only  prove  injurious  to  his  career.  Why  this 
should  be  so  is  a  riddle  to  me.  Europe,  which  many 
have  accepted  as  a  model  in  so  many  respects,  offers 
us  some  of  the  best  books  of  real  scientific  value 
written  by  clergymen,  Jewish  as  well  as  Christian. 
Would  it  be  indeed  such  a  calamity  if  among  the 
hundreds  of  ministers  we  count  in  this  country,  we 
would  have  at  least  a  sprinkling  of  learned  men,  who 
would,  now  and  then,  favor  us  with  such  pieces  of 
work  as  the  Jewish  Eschatology  from  Daniel  to  Akiba, 
by  Von  Woltz,  Stadt-Pfarrer,  at  Leonberg  (Wuerthem- 
berg),  or  The  Religious  and  Ethical  Conceptions  of 
the  Old  Testament,  the  Apocrypha  and  the  Pseudepi- 
grapha,  by  Ludwig  Conrad,  Pfarrer  zu  Klinkow  bei 
Prenzlau?  Would  it  really  bring  disgrace  upon 
Israel  in  this  country  if  its  spiritual  destinies  would 
now  and  then  be  presided  over  by  men  of  the  stamp 
of  Dr.  Kohut  and  Dr.  Jastrow,  who  left  us  the 
greatest  Rabbinical  Dictionaries,  or  Herzfeld  and 
Sachs  and  Kayserling,  who  gave  to  the  world  the 
best  books  on  the  most  important  periods  of  Jewish 
history,  or  Dr.  Szold,  who  bequeathed  to  us  one  of 
the  most  lucid  commentaries  on  the  Book  of  Job? 

We  are  fond  of  speaking  of  Judaism  as  a  religion, 
though  we  practically  never  define  the  nature  of  this 


200  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

religion,  our  attitude  towards  its  doctrines  and  pre- 
cepts and  promises,  and  the  obligation  it  devolves 
upon  us.  But  have  you  ever  seen  a  great  religion 
without  its  learned  orders  or  at  least  learned  clergy? 
And,  least  of  all,  how  should  Judaism,  with  its  tradi- 
tions of  learning,  with  its  vast  literature,  with  the 
prominent  feature  of  Torah  (teaching)  subsist  without 
scholars,  without  students?  Maimonides  tells  us, 
"And  He  (God)  said  unto  us  through  Isaiah,  the  good 
messenger  of  the  nation,  that  the  sign  between  Him 
and  us  and  the  convincing  pledge  that  Israel  will 
never  perish  is  the  fact  that  His  Torah  and  His  word 
remain  among  us."  Do  you  believe  that  this  pledge 
still  holds  good  when  the  Jewish  laity  is  further  from 
any  knowledge  of  the  Torah,  including  the  Bible, 
than  any  other  section  of  the  community,  whilst  the 
Jewish  minister  is  expected  to  be  anything  and  every- 
thing: an  organizer,  a  social  agitator,  an  expert  in 
all  topics  of  the  day,  but  is  never  expected  to  be  a 
sound  Hebrew  scholar? 

It  is  true  that  we  live  here  a  more  strenuous  life 
than  they  do  in  Europe,  and  that  the  demands  on 
the  practical  side  are  greater  than  they  are  elsewhere. 
But  what  is  life  without  thought,  and,  least  of  all, 
what  value  has  Jewish  religious  life  without  Jewish 
religious  thought?  Besides,  I  am  only  pleading  for 
a  sprinkling  or  remnant  which  would  be  devoted  to 
this  Jewish  religious  thought,  but  which  may  prove 
a  leaven  to  the  community  and  a  healthy  and  helpful 
religious  force  to  all  their  brethren  in  the  pulpit. 

I  must  further  remark  that  when  I  speak  here  of 
holiness  I  am  thinking  of  Jewish  holiness  which,  as 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY          201 

you  will  find  in  so  many  theological  works,  is  always 
described  as  "the  peculiar"  Jewish  conception  of 
holiness.  It  just  as  much  includes  the  ritual  and 
ceremonial  as  the  ethical  holiness.  Altogether,  never 
forget  that  you  are  Jewish  preachers,  and  that  there 
is  no  other  standard  for  you  but  that  supplied  by 
Judaism.  Perhaps  I  may  illustrate  this  counsel  by 
the  following  story  communicated  by  R.  Solomon 
ibn  Verga,  in  his  Shebet  Jehudah,  which  runs  as 
follows:  Among  the  exiles  from  Spain  there  was  a 
Jew  and  his  family,  who,  by  reason  of  the  epidemic 
which  broke  out  in  the  boat  which  carried  him  away 
from  his  native  country,  was  compelled  to  land  on 
some  desolate  place  remote  from  all  human  habita- 
tion. His  wife,  who  was  very  delicate,  became  ex- 
hausted and  died.  Famished  and  worn  out,  he  carried 
his  two  sick  children,  but  at  last  fatigue  and  hunger 
overpowered  him,  and  he  fainted  and  fell  down. 
When  he  awoke  from  his  trance  he  found  his  two 
children  dead  by  his  side.  He  then  rose  to  his  feet 
and  in  his  grief  exclaimed:  "Master  of  the  world, 
much  hast  Thou  done  unto  me  which  hastens  my 
steps  toward  apostacy.  But  know  it  for  a  certainty 
that  against  the  very  will  of  those  who  dwell  in 
heaven,  a  Jew  I  am  and  a  Jew  I  shall  remain,  in 
spite  of  all  the  suffering  Thou  hast  brought  and  may 
still  bring  over  me." 

My  friends,  we  can  well  realize  how  this  exile 
came  to  think  that  the  power  of  heaven  was  against 
him.  He  was  just  fleeing  from  a  country  which  was 
at  that  time  perhaps  the  greatest  world  power  history 


202  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

had  ever  seen.  Its  Church  was  certainly  the  most 
powerful  one  in  the  world,  and  certainly  more  uni- 
versal than  any  Church  ever  was  or  ever  will  be. 
Indeed,  its  missionaries  were  soon  to  overrun  new 
continents — the  West  Indies  as  well  as  the  East 
Indies,  and  if  you  have  read,  for  instance,  Parkman's 
"History  of  Canada,"  you  will  admit  that  these  mis- 
sionaries were  not  entirely  devoid  of  spirituality. 
So,  as  it  seemed  to  this  poor  exile,  both  the  powers 
on  earth  and  the  powers  in  heaven  were  arrayed 
against  Judaism.  Thank  God,  we  have  now  to  fear 
very  little  the  powers  on  earth.  The  very  country 
which  Spain  was  to  discover  and  in  which  discovery 
it  reached  the  zenith  of  its  power,  was  destined  by 
Providence  to  prove,  in  the  course  of  history,  the 
refuge  of  the  descendants  of  the  very  fellow-exiles 
of  this  great  Spanish  Jew.  And  so  in  other  parts  of 
the  world,  especially  in  Western  Europe,  Israel  is 
enjoying  more  or  less  the  protection  of  the  powers 
on  earth,  giving  them  at  least  equality  before  the 
law  and  guaranteeing  in  part  the  fruits  of  their 
emancipation. 

But  it  is,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  imaginary  powers 
of  heaven  against  which  we  have  to  be  on  our  guard. 
Ideals  are  put  up,  ignoring  history  and  all  its  lessons 
but  appealing  to  theological  commonplaces  which 
have  a  heavenly  look  about  them.  I  know  of  no  other 
advice  to  give  you  but  that  you  try  all  these  new 
ideals  by  the  test  of  this  Spanish  Jew.  Thus  you  will 
hear  a  great  deal  about  the  ideal  of  a  universal 
religion.  You  will  even  be  made  to  understand  that 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY          203 

this  was  the  ideal  of  our  prophets,  though  by  some 
accident  or  other  they  were  misunderstood  by  the 
Jews  for  a  period  of  eighteen  hundred  years  or  more. 
It  is  certainly  very  flattering  to  our  pride  and  vanity 
to  be  told  that  it  is  in  our  power  to  become  the 
spiritual  conquerors  of  the  world  at  the  cost  of  a  small 
sacrifice — of  a  small  volume  called  the  Pentateuch. 
But  the  only  test  you  can  apply  to  it  is  that  of  the  poor 
Spanish  exile.  Will  you  after  this  conquest  be  Jews 
and  remain  Jews,  or  not?  If  it  does  not  bear  this 
test,  you  maybe  sure  that  the  message  is  not  a  heavenly 
one.  This  test  you  can  apply  to  all  the  points  which 
are  now  the  subject  of  controversy,  such  as  the 
Sunday  service,  the  gradual  banishment  of  the  He- 
brew from  the  synagogue  as  the  language  of  prayer 
and  worship,  and  abolition  of  certain  festivals  in  favor 
of  more  convenient  days,  the  abrogation  of  almost 
the  entire  ritual  law,  the  neglecting  of  every  specific 
Jewish  ceremony,  the  obliteraticn  of  all  reference 
to  Zion  and  Jerusalem  from  our  liturgy,  and  many 
other  points  like  these.  You  will  be  told  that  all  this 
is  done  for  the  sake  of  heaven  and  for  the  great  cause 
of  religion.  I  need  not  enter  into  details,  but  I  can 
only  repeat  what  I  have  just  said:  Ask  yourself 
seriously  and  honestly  whether  or  not  all  this  will 
bear  the  test  of  that  Spanish  Jew.  "A  Jew  I  am  and 
a  Jew  I  shall  remain."  If  the  latter  be  the  case,  then 
it  is  your  sacred  duty  to  prove  yourself  the  descend- 
ants of  the  stiff-necked  ones,  and  defy  heaven  as  that 
Spanish  exile  did  defy  heaven  and  earth. 

This  Jewish  standard  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  be 
also  applied  to  the  social  work  of  the  Rabbi.     I  am 


204  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

led  to  this  remark  by  a  passage  which  I  have  read  in 
the  book  of  an  Englishman  who  recently  traveled 
through  this  country.  Among  others,  he  also  visited, 
as  it  seems,  our  charitable  institutions  and  came  a 
great  deal  into  contact  with  settlement  workers. 
This  traveler  reports  that  the  head  of  a  prominent 
settlement  house  made  the  remark  to  him  that  "the 
sentiment  of  pity  and  mercy  as  a  motive  of  social 
service  has  become  outworn."  The  new  motive,  he 
declares,  is  "a  certain  spirit  of  moral  adventure, 
carrying  a  suggestion  of  statesmanship."  Now,  as 
Rabbis,  you  will  probably  take  your  share  in  social 
work  which,  as  I  hope,  will  become  with  everyone  of 
you  a  part  of  his  Rabbinical  duties.  I  do  not  know 
what  your  attitude  will  be  toward  these  moral  adven- 
tures. I  have  some  dread  of  all  adventures,  but  I  do 
not  think  myself  competent  to  give  an  opinion  about 
them.  However,  whatever  your  attitude  may  be,  be 
Jews  and  remain  Jews,  and  do  not  allow  the  sentiment 
of  pity  and  mercy  to  become  worn  out.  Pity  and 
mercy  may  not  be  statesmanlike,  but  they  are  a 
"divine  weakness"  and  always  proved  Israel's  strength. 
Mercifulness  and  loving-kindness  are,  according  to  our 
sages,  among  the  criteria  distinguishing  the  people 
of  Israel.  You  also  know  the  regular  Jewish  expression 
D^jCm  *J2  D^Om  ^tf"*it?*,  "Israel  are  a  compassionate 
people,  the  descendants  of  a  compassionate  people." 
You  have  also  heard  of  the  Jewish  heart.  Do  not  fail 
to  cultivate  these  sentiments  and  to  keep  them  alive 
among  your  congregants.  Be  not  so  overawed  by 
the  sense  of  organization  as  to  put  these  great  Jewish 


THE  TEST  THE  RABBI  SHOULD  APPLY          205 

virtues  into  the  background.  You  can  fully  hope 
for  God's  mercy  even  if  you  commit  a  sin  in  this 
direction;  do  not  allow  your  congregants  to  lose 
heart — the  Jewish  heart.  This  Jewish  peculiarity 
will  certainly  do  no  harm  to  us. 

And  now,  my  friends,  with  these  words  I  will 
take  leave  of  you,  at  least  for  a  time.  My  travels 
will  lead  me  over  two  continents,  where  I  shall 
probably  have  occasion  to  visit  many  an  institution 
of  Jewish  learning  and  many  a  training  school  for 
Jewish  Rabbis  and  Jewish  teachers.  But  I  shall 
feel  proud  and  easy  in  my  mind  when  you  will  give 
me  reason  to  think  that  with  whatever  obstacles 
you  may  meet,  whatever  difficulties  you  will  have  to 
overcome,  whatever  sacrifices  you  will  be  compelled 
to  make,  you  will  never  allow  yourself  to  be  led  astray 
even  by  heaven  or  by  earth  from  carrying  out  this 
programme  of  the  great  unknown,  "Jews  we  are  and 
Jews  we  shall  remain." 


THE  BETH  HAMIDRASH.* 

I  HAVE  never  realized  the  force  of  the  Rabbinic 
interpretation  to  Psalm  84,  verse  8,  as  this  evening. 
I  am  referring  to  the  Scriptural  words:  "They  go 
from  strength  to  strength,"  which  the  Rabbis  interpret 
to  refer  to  the  man  who  goes  forth  from  the  Synagogue 
to  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  or  the  House  of  Learning  or 
the  School  of  Interpretation  and  Research,  to  be 
there  occupied  in  the  study  of  the  Torah.  But  it 
never  struck  me  so  forcibly  as  when  looking  upon 
this  complex  of  buildings  arisen  within  the  last  few 
years,  comprehending  a  place  of  worship,  a  religious 
school  and  a  school  for  teachers.  To  these  has  now 
been  added  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  forming  the  goal  of 
religious  and  intellectual  activity;  which  we  are  dedi- 
cating this  evening.  In  the  few  remarks  I  am  about 
to  make,  I  will  dwell  on  the  latter. 

The  author  responsible  for  the  term  "Beth 
Hamidrash,"  to  which  those  who  are  thirsty  for 
wisdom  are  invited,  is  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Sirach.  He 
was  the  first  to  coin  this  term,  which  has  become 
classical  in  Jewish  literature,  and  we  might  as  well 
consult  him  as  to  the  meaning  which  he  attached  to 
it.  This  we  learn  from  another  passage  in  his  book. 

*Address  delivered  at  the   Dedication  of  the   Dropsie    College 
Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  March  11,  1912. 


208  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

After  enlarging  upon  the  men  of  different  trades  and 
handicrafts  who  "maintain  the  fabric  of  the  world," 
but  whom  he  does  not  give  credit  for  "public  counsel" 
or  for  "sentence  of  judgment,"  he  describes  his 
ideal  man  as  follows: 

He  is  the  one  that  hath  applied  his  soul, 
And  meditateth  in  the  law  of  the  Most  High; 
He  will  seek  out  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients, 
And  will  be  occupied  in  prophecies. 
He  will  keep  the  discourses  of  men  of  renown; 
And  where  subtle  parables  are,  he  will  be  there  also, 
He  will  seek  out  the  secrets  of  grave  sentences, 
And  be  conversant  in  dark  parables. 

This,  then,  the  study  of  the  Bible,  the  cultivation 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  as  well  as  the  elucida- 
tion of  those  secret  grave  sentences,  is  what  consti- 
tutes learning  and  is  the  purpose  for  which  the  Beth 
Hamidrash  is  established.  Sirach  flourished  in  the 
second  century,  B.  C.  But  his  conception  of  learning 
became  a  tradition  and  formed  the  ideal  for  thousands 
of  years  after  him  in  all  Jewish  colleges  and  academies 
or,  as  they  were  called  in  Hebrew,  Botte  Midrashoth 
and  Yeshiboth.  The  only  additions  made  were  the 
productions  of  the  Oral  Law  which,  of  course,  in  the 
age  of  Sirach,  could  not  as  yet  have  been  a  regular 
object  of  study. 

And  this  was  further,  what  the  founder  of  this 
College,  Moses  A.  Dropsie,  whose  anniversary  we 
commemorate  also  this  evening,  arrived  at  when  he 
described  the  place  in  which  we  are  gathered,  as  an 
institution  created  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
"ripe  scholarship  in  Hebrew,  the  Biblical  and  Rab- 
binical literature,  with  which  should  be  connected 


THE  BETH  HAMIDRASH  209 

original  investigation  and  research."  This  is  a  Beth 
Hamidrash  in  the  traditional  sense  of  the  word. 

The  remarkable  thing  about  this  will  of  the  late 
Mr.  Dropsie  is  that,  as  I  understand,  it  was  conceived 
by  him  so  many  years  ago,  when  there  hardly  existed 
any  Jewish  institution  in  this  country  which  could 
have  suggested  to  him  this  idea  of  original  investiga- 
tion and  research.  Certainly  times  have  altered  in 
this  respect.  But  when  Moses  Dropsie  began  to 
contemplate  his  plans  which  are  realized  now,  we 
had  little  thought  of  higher  learning.  We  erected 
places  of  worship  of  which  we  can  be  proud  indeed. 
We  built  philanthropic  institutions  which  might 
serve  as  a  model  to  any  community,  but  we  failed 
to  progress  to  the  Beth  Hamidrash;  we  were  indiffer- 
ent to  the  strength — even  religious  strength — hidden 
in  original  investigation  and  research,  deeming  them 
as  devoid  of  any  use  for  the  practical  purposes  in  which 
we  were  engaged. 

Thank  God,  we  have  outgrown  this  stage  and  are 
beginning  to  be  unpractical.  The  Talmud  in  defining 
the  character  of  a  city  in  contradistinction  to  a  village, 
perceives  it  in  the  fact  that  the  former  can  point  to 
ten  men  of  leisure.  The  Talmudical  term  is  "Bat- 
lanim,"  but  it  does  not  mean  lazy  or  idle  people,  but, 
as  just  indicated,  men  who  are  not,  by  reason  of  their 
trade  or  handicraft,  hammering  away  at  the  fabric 
of  the  world,  and  who  can  thus  afford  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  higher  spiritual  and  intellectual  interests 
of  the  community.  Without  a  sprinkling  of  such 
men,  the  place  may  boast  of  millions  of  inhabitants, 
but  a  village  it  is  and  a  village  it  remains.  What  the 


210  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

Talmud  calls  a  village,  would  in  modern  language 
be  called  provincial,  denoting  a  state  of  mind  narrow 
in  its  horizon,  limited  in  its  sympathies  and  self- 
complacently  doubting  all  except  its  own  wisdom  and 
"hating  learning  for  its  own  sake."  It  is  just  such  a 
society  which  is  redeemed  by  these  men  of  leisure. 
They  certainly  lead  also  an  active  life — indeed,  a 
strenuous  life.  I  remember  to  have  read  once  in  the 
life  of  a  famous  English  scholar,  in  which  the  remark 
occurred  that  he  wished  the  people  who  read  a  learned 
book  could  form  some  adequate  notion  of  the  labor 
involved  in  it.  Sometimes  a  footnote  of  half  a  dozen 
lines  may  involve  days  of  study,  the  consultation  of 
dozens  of  volumes,  written  perhaps  in  half  a  dozen 
different  languages,  and  the  reading  of  hundreds  of 
pages  which  had  to  be  sifted  and  compressed  into  a 
paragraph  or  two.  Such  a  life  is  even  more  than 
strenuous,  and  it  can  hardly  be  appreciated  by  one 
who  has  never  himself  tasted  either  the  joys  or  the 
sorrows  of  research.  But  it  raises  the  community  in 
which  such  impractical  men  live  and  where  a  home 
is  set  apart  in  which  they  can  follow  undisturbed  their 
intellectual  pursuits,  out  of  the  narrow  and  provincial 
views  of  God  and  man  which  make  us,  as  a  rule,  so 
petty  and  so  small.  But,  above  all,  what  they  do  is 
that  they  teach  us  how  to  think,  or  rather  do  the 
thinking  for  us.  Within  recent  years  we  have  re- 
peated a  good  many  times  the  famous  phrase,  "to  do 
things."  Has  it  never  occurred  to  you  that  the  time 
has  come  when  we  should  also  have  a  few  men  at 
least  who  would  "think  things?"  This  is  the  great 
mission,  to  my  mind,  of  universities  and  colleges, 


THE  BETH  HA  MIDRASH  2 1 1 

consisting  not  so  much  in  the  producing  of  active 
and  practical  men,  but  of  men  devoted  to  thinking 
and  contemplation — just  men  who  brood  over  the 
"secrets  of  grave  sentences,"  which  sentences,  if  you 
examine  them  closely,  you  will  find  not  only  con- 
cern the  past,  but  may  also  decide  for  us  the  fate  of 
our  present  and  future.  Such  men  of  the  thinking 
profession  dare  not  be  local,  for  their  playground 
is  nothing  less  than  God's  world.  They  may  have 
little  to  say  about  town  topics  or  topics  of  the  week, 
for  they  treat  everything  from  the  point  of  view  of 
eternity,  which  includes  all  time.  This  is  especially 
the  case  with  the  students  who  are  occupied  in 
prophecies.  Their  extent  is  the  universe  both  in 
space  and  in  time.  The  transient  was,  according 
to  our  ancients,  eliminated  from  the  Scriptures, 
even  though  it  once  formed  prophecies.  "It  is  the 
Book  of  the  Generations  of  Man;  embodying  a 
history  of  Humanity  written  in  advance,"  as  a  modern 
savant  expressed  it. 

And  think  only  of  the  vast  apparatus  which  is  now 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  study  of  the  Bible.  Whole 
civilizations,  such  as  the  Egyptian,  the  Assyrian  and 
partly  also  the  Greek,  lasting  for  thousands  of  years 
and  each  ruling  in  its  turn  the  whole  of  known  human- 
ity, are  enlisted  by  the  student  of  the  Bible  as  auxil- 
iaries of  the  great  document  of  humanity. 

And  this  great  history  of  the  world  is  constantly 
expanding  when  you  add  to  the  Bible  the  post- 
Canonical  productions  of  Judaism.  This  is  a  great 
literature  indeed  when  you  consider  its  great  past, 
its  long  history,  its  affinity  with  so  many  schools  of 


2 1 2  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

thought,  Oriental  and  Occidental,  with  which  it  has 
come  into  contact  during  its  long  career  in  various 
countries,  its  vast  jurisprudence,  civil  and  criminal, 
its  tremendous  collection  of  precedents  in  the  Re- 
sponsa,  its  liturgy,  its  poetry,  sacred  and  secular,  its 
devotional  and  mystic  literature,  Such  a  literature 
not  only  deserves,  but  demands  the  attention  of  the 
scholar  and  the  specialist  and  requires  men  of  leisure, 
free  from  all  other  cares,  to  teach  and  to  expound  it. 
But  apart  from  the  spoken  word,  there  is  also  the 
written  word.  Whilst  the  former  is  represented  by 
the  lectures  of  the  professors  in  the  classroom,  the 
latter  is  given  to  the  world  by  means  of  scientific  pub- 
lications. The  former  can  only  reach  a  few,  the  latter 
may  have  the  world  for  its  audience.  This  is  the  rea- 
son that  the  most  representative  universities  and  col- 
leges have  their  various  periodicals  or  series  of  pub- 
lications, to  which  each  department  contributes  its 
share.  The  Dropsie  College  made  a  beginning  in  this 
direction  with  the  Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  which  is 
now  in  its  second  year,  and  which  is  edited  in  con- 
junction with  students  belonging  to  other  institu- 
tions. Its  purpose  is  to  advance  the  cause  of  Jewish 
learning  in  those  departments  for  which  neither  the 
regular  theological  periodicals  nor  the  various  other 
learned  societies  make  sufficient  provision.  It  also 
endeavors  to  serve  as  a  model  to  young  students,  es- 
pecially Jewish  students,  in  their  scientific  work. 
James  Russell  Lowell  expressed  himself  once  in  the 
following  words :  '  'We  have  a  vast  amount  of  imported 
ignorance  and,  still  worse,  of  native,  ready-made 
knowledge  to  digest,  before  even  the  preliminaries 


THE  BETH  HAMIDRASH  213 

of  such  a  consummation  can  be  arranged."  The  con- 
summation of  which  Lowell  thought  was  the  higher 
type  of  citizenship  and  freedom.  The  consummation 
which  the  editors  of  this  Review  have  before  their 
eyes  is  that  of  establishing  some  standard  of  the 
higher  scholarship  or  of  original  investigation  and 
research.  Matters  may  have  improved  since  Lowell's 
time.  But  the  Millennium  has  not  yet  arrived,  and  it 
is  still  important  to  combat  all  kinds  of  ignorance, 
including  "encyclopaedic  ignorance" — and  to  show 
that  smartness  and  verbosity  which  are  by  some  con- 
sidered a  virtue  in  other  walks  of  life,  are  not  the 
instruments  with  which  parables  and  prophesies  of  old 
are  treated.  The  knowledge  of  these,  or,  for  that 
matter,  of  any  subject  worth  knowing,  can  only  be 
achieved  by  hard  work  and  exclusive  devotion  to  the 
topic  in  hand  and  a  careful  study  of  the  authorities 
bearing  upon  it,  written  with  all  the  gravity  and  sense 
of  responsibility  which  men  bring  to  bear  upon  other 
questions  involving  really  vital  issues.  In  brief, 
we  try  to  train  by  models  of  genuine  scholarship, 
serious  scholars  and  devoted  students.  I  do  not  belong 
to  those  who  think  that  scholarly  work  must  of 
necessity  be  dull  or  heavy.  We  have  instances 
of  brilliant  writing  and  delightful  reading  furnished 
by  men  who  are  accepted  by  the  learned  world  as 
the  main  authorities  in  their  respective  subjects. 
But  brilliancy  and  delight  must  not  be  obtained  at 
the  expense  of  accuracy  and  exactness.  Moreover, 
there  are  subjects  such  as  grammar,  etymology  or 
questions  of  chronology  and  lexicography,  or  the 
collection  of  variae  lectiones  offered  by  the  collation 


214  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

of  versions  and  texts  which  can  only  be  treated  in  a 
dry  and  matter-of-fact  manner.  Yet  they  are  as 
indispensable  to  the  philologian  as  time  tables  to  the 
traveler.  They  are  not  pleasant  reading.  They  are 
rather  disconnected,  as  somebody  said  who  was 
studying  dictionaries,  but  you  can  never  reach  your 
destination  or  the  goal  of  high  learning  without 
doing  your  share  of  them. 

I  may  further  remark  that  long  experience  has 
taught  me  that  the  student  who  has  never  undergone 
the  discipline  given  by  the  editing  of  an  ancient 
text  or  the  writing  of  a  serious  commentary  to  an 
ancient  classic,  where  the  smallest  detail  has  its 
meaning,  and  where  even  the  blunders  of  the  Scribe 
convey  at  .times  most  startling  lessons,  will  never 
acquire  that  sense  of  responsibility  and  scientific 
conscience  which  alone  go  to  make  the  real  scholar. 
Industry  and  hard  reading  may  enable  him  to  compile 
a  useful  manual  or  readable  history  of  a  certain  given 
epoch  in  modern  or  ancient  times;  but  there  are  no 
elements  of  permanence  in  such  work.  You  have 
always  the  feeling  that  you  are  in  the  presence  of 
a  mere  reporter,  whom  you  never  take  quite  seriously 
and  are  prepared  to  abandon  altogether  as  soon  as  he 
is  contradicted  by  the  next  "dealer  in  information." 

Now,  I  have  said  that  in  learned  publications  it 
is  aimed  to  have  the  world  as  one's  audience.  But 
if  the  world  is  to  share  their  benefits,  these  publica- 
tions have  to  remain  strictly  impartial.  Pure  learn- 
ing must  stand  for  no  party,  nor  must  it  have  any 
particular  cause  to  defend.  The  Quarterly  remains 
true  to  its  program  and  strictly  avoids  all  polemics, 


THE  BETH  HAMIDRASH  215 

though  this  may  rob  it  of  many  an  incisive  or  slash- 
ing article  which  would  at  least  enjoy  the  applause 
of  one  party.  And  it  is  just  because  of  this  strict 
adherence  to  the  principle  of  impartiality  that  this 
Review  will  in  time  become  the  common  platform 
of  all  parties.  Please  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I 
am  prepared  to  stand  up  for  my  principles  and  to 
defend  them  with  all  my  power.  I  am  grateful  to 
God  that  I  have  still  some  bias  in  favor  of  Judaism. 
I  possess  nothing  of  that  Mandarin  politeness  which 
congratulates  a  fellowman  of  a  different  creed  on 
the  superiority  of  his  religion,  so  much  superior  to 
the  religion  in  which  he  himself  was  born  and  bred. 
I  rather  congratulate  myself  in  the  old  manner 
that  I  am  a  Jew.  The  boast  of  non-sectarianism  in 
matters  of  religion  does  not  impress  me.  In  most 
cases,  the  man  who  claims  this  gift  means  nothing 
else  but  that  he  forms  a  Sect  for  himself.  But  I 
have  also  a  strong  prejudice  in  favor  of  unity,  if  not 
among  the  different  sects  of  the  country,  at  least 
among  the  scholars  and  students  of  the  various  col- 
leges and  learned  institutions  in  the  different  sections 
of  the  community,  longing  for  some  common  platform 
on  which  they  may  meet  on  equal  terms  in  an  amica- 
ble and  brotherly  spirit.  And  this  is  only  possible 
through  such  periodicals  of  pure  learning  as  have  no 
other  purposes  but  to  seek  and  to  establish  the  truth 
by  means  of  approved  scientific  method.  It  is  in  this 
manner  that  this  Beth  Hamidrash,  in  conjunction 
with  other  Botte  Hamidrashoth,  or  colleges  and  acad- 
emies, will  prove  a  real  strength.  It  is  only  this 
strength  which  insures  peace  in  the  end. 


HUMILITY  AND  SELF-SACRIFICE  AS  THE 
QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI.* 

THE  occasion  for  which  we  have  gathered  here 
to-day  needs  no  special  explanation.  The 
presence  of  Faculty  and  Students  in  their  academic 
dress  tells  you  at  once  the  purpose  of  our  meeting, 
though  we  are  not  in  our  own  precincts,  It  is  one  of 
those  holy  convocations  which,  for  many  years,  has 
become  a  regular  feature  in  the  community,  when 
degrees  are  conferred  upon  and  prizes  awarded  to  the 
students,  and  Directors  and  Faculty  bear  witness 
to  this  solemn  act.  Of  late  years  our  Seminary 
Hall  has  proved  too  small  to  accommodate  all  those 
who  wished  to  attend  the  Commencement  Exercises, 
and  it  is  in  deference  to  public  opinion,  expressed 
many  a  time,  that  we  make  our  appearance  in  this 
Lyceum  to-day. 

Now,  here  we  are,  and  if  the  few  remarks  which  I 
am  about  to  make,  because  of  the  more  central  loca- 
tion of  the  place  from  which  I  speak,  should  reach 
wider  circles,  I  would  certainly  not  object,  but  they 
are  mainly  addressed  to  my  friends,  students  of  the 
Seminary  and  students  of  the  Teachers  Institute, 
upon  whom  the  degrees  were  just  conferred. 

These  remarks  suggested  themselves  to  me  by 
the  contents  of  the  Scriptural  lesson  read  yesterday. 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Graduating  Exercises  of  the  Seminary, 
June  2,  1912. 


218  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

As  you  know,  a  considerable  portion  of  it  dwells 
upon  the  subject  of  the  apportioning  of  elders  and 
leaders  in  Israel,  but  I  am  referring  in  particular  to 
verses  16  and  17  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Numbers. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses:  "Gather 
unto  me  seventy  men  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  whom 
thou  knowest  to  be  the  elders  of  the  people,  and 
officers  over  them;  and  bring  them  unto  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  Congregation,  that  they  may  stand  there 
with  thee.  And  I  will  come  down  and  talk  with 
thee  there:  and  I  will  take  of  the  spirit  which  is 
upon  thee,  and  I  will  put  it  upon  them;  and  they 
shall  bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with  thee,  that 
thou  bear  it  not  thyself  alone." 

My  friends,  mark  well  the  closing  words  of  the 
quotation  just  given:  "And  they  shall  bear  the 
burden  of  the  people  with  thee."  I  had  already  once 
had  occasion  to  quote  the  words  of  a  Jewish  sage  in 
antiquity,  bearing  on  the  subject.  He  was  sending 
out  disciples  to  take  up  their  position  in  the  com- 
munity. But  he  warned  them  that  it  was  service  and 
labor  which  awaited  them,  not  mastery  and  dominion. 
For  indeed,  they  would  have  to  bear  the  burden  and 
the  cares  of  a  whole  community.  They  would  be 
responsible  to  God  and  man  for  their  actions,  and 
whatever  happens,  it  is  the  leader  who  has  in  the  end 
to  give  account  and  reckoning.  "If  you  see  a  genera- 
tion," our  sages  teach,  "which  is  constantly  on  the 
decline,  go  and  investigate  the  Judges  of  Israel." 
And  the  burden  becomes  the  heavier  in  a  community 
like  ours,  in  which,  because  of  its  youth,  the  Rabbi 
has  to  spend  so  much  time  on  organization  work, 
and  in  which  this  organization  becomes  doubly  heavy 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI  219 

and  full  of  obstacles,  owing  to  the  heterogeneous 
elements  of  which  the  community  is  composed.  These 
elements  hail  from  all  the  corners  of  the  earth,  were 
bred  under  different  conditions,  were  trained  in  dif- 
ferent schools,  each  of  them  possessing  its  own  customs 
and  usages,  its  own  etiquette,  and  its  own  ways  of 
thinking,  and  each  of  them  expecting  the  leader  to 
be  led  by  them  exclusively,  and  to  have  no  other  de- 
sires, no  other  aims,  but  those  sanctioned  by  them. 
One  of  the  earliest  experiences  of  Moses  was  when  he 
beheld  two  men  of  the  Hebrews  who  "strove  together." 
The  last  two  words  just  quoted  have  become  a  text 
with  many  a  mediaeval  writer,  and  they  are  still 
striving.  Indeed,  I  think  that  this  is  the  first  experi- 
ence which  any  man  makes  on  leaving  the  academic 
halls  and  descending  for  the  first  time  into  the  arena 
of  life.  Two  Hebrews  are  striving;  two  sections  in 
the  community  are  striving;  two  parties  in  the 
synagogue  are  striving;  and  very  often  it  is  more 
than  two.  It  just  depends  upon  the  composition 
of  the  community,  their  antecedents  at  home,  and 
the  variety  of  homes  from  which  they  hail. 

My  friends,  I  know  that  it  is  hard  work  to  pacify 
all.  But  do  not  forget  that  the  Rabbi  is  expected 
to  have  faith  in  Israel,  even  as  Moses  had.  Better 
times  are  bound  to  come,  and  you  are  young  enough 
to  hope  for  such  times.  For  your  comfort,  I  will 
only  remind  you  of  Turkish  Jewry  in  the  Fifteenth 
Century  or  thereabout,  which  forms  the  nearest 
approach  to  such  conditions  as  you  will  be  called 
upon  to  grapple  with.  The  Fifteenth  Century  was 


220  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  age  of  "Pogroms"  all  over  the  world,  and  the 
newly  established  Mohammedan  Empire  in  Constan- 
tinople was  virtually  the  only  one  which  not  only 
granted  the  Jew  a  certain  amount  of  liberty,  but 
practically  invited  the  Jews  from  all  over  the  world 
to  come  there  and  enjoy  these  liberties.  But  they 
hardly  began  to  settle  when  the  strife  began.  There 
were  the  native  Jews  who  had  their  own  ritual ;  there 
were  the  German  immigrants,  coming  largely  from 
Bavaria,  who  had  also  their  own  ritual;  there  were 
the  Hungarian  Jews,  there  were  the  Italian  Jews, 
especially  from  Sicily,  there  were  the  French  Jews, 
especially  from  the  Southern  departments;  there 
was  also  a  sprinkling,  as  it  would  seem,  of  Jews  from 
Russia  and  other  Slavonic  countries;  there  were  a 
little  later  the  Spanish,  or  the  Sephardic  Jews,  but 
these  were  also  divided  into  half  a  dozen  rituals, 
or  Minhagim:  the  Minhag  of  Aragon,  the  Minhag  of 
Barcelona;  the  Minhag  of  Tudela;  and  others  of  which 
no  record  has  come  down  to  us.  And  there  were  also 
the  Jews  of  Portugal  who,  though  practically  coming 
from  the  same  part  of  the  world  as  their  Spanish 
brethren,  considered  themselves  as  their  superiors  and 
held  aloof  from  them.  How  they  quarrelled!  They 
quarrelled  over  the  taxes,  as  each  community  had 
to  pay  its  quota  of  the  tribute  to  the  government; 
they  fought  over  the  ritual,  each  community  insisting 
on  retaining  it  in  its  integrity;  they  quarrelled  over 
the  Rabbi,  or  Preacher  or  Maggid;  sometimes  they 
quarrelled  over  the  so-called  "Spreader  of  the  Torah," 
or  head  of  the  College.  The  Responsa  literature  of 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI  221 

the  time  is  full  of  such  litigations  and  disputes  and 
controversies.  But  in  a  generation  or  so  we  see  them 
blending  into  one  large  harmonious  whole.  In  the 
end,  higher  culture,  superior  learning  and  gifted 
leadership  overcome  every  obstacle.  Men  arose, 
great  in  the  Law,  great  in  mystical  lore  and  great  also 
in  statesmanship  and  in  philanthropic  enterprise. 
They  endowed  schools,  they  erected  synagogues, 
they  even  established  Hebrew  presses,  and  their  be- 
neficent influence  extended  far  and  wide,  creating  new 
centres  of  Judaism.  Great  women  also  contributed 
their  share.  It  is  enough  to  mention  here  the  names 
of  Donna  Gracia  Hannah  Mendesia,  a  millionairess, 
a  statesman  and  a  philanthropist  on  the  largest  scale, 
in  whom  her  contemporaries  saw  Divine  Mercy 
revealed  in  human  form.  She  is  described  as  "the 
glory  of  Israel."  She  founded  schools,  she  established 
a  Jewish  press  and  devoted  herself  to  deeds  of  mercy 
and  benevolence  which  reached  even  her  enemies, 
"and  rescued  many  of  her  nation  from  the  depths 
of  endless  misery,  poverty  and  sin,  led  them  into  safe 
places,  and  gathered  them  together  in  obedience  to 
the  precepts  of  the  true  God."  Thus  they  built  up 
the  House  of  Israel  anew. 

This  may  happen  in  this  country,  too,  provided 
you  are  animated  by  the  spirit  which  was  upon  Moses, 
which  is  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  and  giving  yourself 
up  entirely  to  your  work.  Moses  was  the  Prophet, 
as  we  are  told,  who  gave  his  very  life  for  Israel,  hence 
the  Torah  is  called  after  his  name:  The  Torah  of 
Moses.  In  other  words,  no  message  to  Israel  will 


222  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

ever  succeed  in  which  the  messenger  thinks  less  of 
Israel  and  more  of  himself. 

Now,  when  about  to  write  this  address,  I  was 
struck  by  the  following  sentence  quoted  by  a  famous 
author  of  the  last  century: 

"At  twenty-five,"  he  remarked,  "a  generous 
soul  only  seeks  to  sacrifice  its  life.  It  asks  of  Heaven 
and  Earth  only  a  great  cause  to  serve  with  great 
devotion;  love  and  strength  are  superabundant." 

My  friends,  you  are  about  the  age  just  described, 
perhaps  a  year  or  two  more  or  less.  You  have  even 
the  advantage  that  you  need  not  seek  for  a  great 
cause.  Heaven  has  already  assigned  this  to  you. 
It  is  the  cause  of  Judaism,  which  is  great  and  sacred 
enough.  But,  can  we,  in  our  generation,  speak  with 
the  same  certainty  of  the  generous  souls  prepared 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  as  the  author  just  mentioned 
spoke  a  century  ago?  Following  the  example  of 
Moses,  the  injunction  given  to  every  man  aspiring 
to  leadership  was,  "Give  your  very  lives  for  the  com- 
munity." Have  you  ever  realized  that  it  is  this  which 
is  required  of  you  in  your  sacred  calling?  The  great 
misfortune  is  that  we  live  in  a  time  in  which  words 
and  terms  have  become  so  stereotyped,  so  technical, 
and  so  mechanical,  that  they  have  become  soulless 
and  meaningless.  One  is  almost  inclined  to  exclaim 
with  old  Johnson,  "Sir,  free  yourself  from  cant!" 
Take  the  words  "sacred  calling,"  as  applied  to  the 
Rabbinate.  Is  it  a  sacred  calling,  indeed?  Has 
it  not  through  faults,  not  your  own,  become  reduced 
to  a  mere  profession,  a  comfortable  office,  a  snug 
berth,  in  which  men  spend  their  lives  along  a  certain 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI  223 

routine.  You  may  call  such  a  career  practical  and 
even  respectable,  but  the  last  thing  in  the  world 
you  can  call  it  is  sacred.  The  old  Jews  were  very 
sparing  with  the  Hebrew  equivalent  of  sacred, 
which  is  t^np  as  a  rule;  when  applied  to  a  person, 
they  meant  by  it  a  martyr.  Are  we  made  of  the  stuff 
of  which  martyrs  are  made?  Do  we  not  rather  engage 
in  a  profession  or  accept  an  office  in  which  martyrdom 
is  more  or  less  out  of  place?  You  have  given  me  no 
reason  to  doubt  your  sincerity  and  readiness  for 
things  great.  But  the  spirit  of  the  time  may  prove 
too  strong  for  you,  so  that  you  may  also  indulge  in 
phrases  which  have  a  very  unctuous  and  solemn 
sound,  but  have  ceased  to  mean  anything. 

Just  to  take  one  more  example:  We  constantly 
speak  of  ourselves  as  a  nation  of  Priests  and  a  people 
with  a  mission,  but  we  never  pause  to  ask,  where  are 
our  Priests,  and  where  are  our  missionaries?  Where 
are  our  Parishes  profiting  by  our  priestly  calling?  And 
where  are  the  converts  giving  evidence  of  our  mis- 
sionary activity?  Now,  I  frankly  confess  that  I  am 
not  in  the  least  troubled  by  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
or  the  Japanese  are  not  yet  Monotheists.  But  we 
want  missionaries  for  our  own  people  who  are  con- 
stantly drifting  away.  We  want  teachers  for  our 
own  youth  to  instruct  them  in  the  word  of  God.  We 
want  students  who  will  devote  themselves  to  the 
cause  of  Jewish  learning  and  continue  the  work  of 
the  old  Yeshiboths  in  a  new  country,  after  new  meth- 
ods and  with  more  scientific  discipline,  if  Jewish 
scholarship  is  not  to  disappear  altogether.  We  want 
Rabbis  to  organize  new  congregations  and  to  raise 


224  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

the  old  ones  from  the  sloth  of  indifference  and  the 
vice  of  strife  into  which  they  have  fallen.  We  want 
further,  as  the  Rabbis  expressed  it,  men  of  power  and 
strength,  to  grapple  with  the  disintegrating  elements 
among  us,  to  whatever  party  they  may  belong, 
whether  to  those  who  seek  their  salvation  in  levelling 
down  Judaism  to  the  commonplace  of  a  cheap 
universalism  or  to  those  who,  to  use  a  famous  phrase, 
"serve  the  Lord  out  of  spite."  And  all  this  can  only 
be  done  by  young  men  and  young  women  of  "love 
and  strength  in  superabundance,"  forgetting  every- 
thing, even  themselves  and  having  no  other  cause 
at  heart  but  that  of  Israel. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  office  of  Rabbi,  as  one  mean- 
ing service,  not  mastery  and  dominion.  The  word 
"service"  need  not  deter  you.  It  is  the  highest  title 
which  Judaism  knows  in  connection  with  your  holy 
office.  "Let  Moses  rejoice  in  the  gift  of  his  portion; 
for  thou  didst  call  him  a  faithful  servant."  This 
feature  is  closely  connected  with  another,  also 
mentioned  in  yesterday's  Scriptural  lesson.  It  is 
that  of  mjj?  or  meekness,  or  rather  humility,  which, 
according  to  our  Rabbis  formed  the  very  calling,  or 
mission  of  Moses.  It  is  the  spontaneity  of  action 
and  suppression  of  our  ego,  which  does  not  know  when 
it  shines;  indeed,  puts  on  a  veil  when  by  some  acci- 
dent it  becomes  aware  of  such  a  possibility  of  shining. 

It  is  only  the  man  possessing  this  humility,  who 
can  become  the  faithful  servant  of  a  great  idea  or 
ideal,  otherwise  he  will  soon  serve  himself. 

My  friends,  our  earlier  Rabbis  were  in  the  habit 
of  saying  that  it  was  the  terrible  and  continuous 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI  225 

deprivation  caused  by  constant  persecution  and 
Galuth  which  has  devoured  many  a  good  quality 
among  us.  I  need  not  dwell  on  this  point.  The 
truth  of  this  is  manifest  enough.  But  I  am  afraid 
that  it  may  equally  be  true  that  in  modern  times  it 
is  the  lack  of  this  great  quality  of  humility  and  the 
wish  to  shine  which  is  the  source  of  no  less  evils.  It 
has  especially  wrought  destruction  among  men  who 
are  about  to  engage  and  are  engaged  in  the  sacred 
calling.  We  are  not  satisfied  to  be  the  faithful  ser- 
vants, but  desire  to  be  the  lords  and  masters.  We 
wish  constantly  to  shine.  Everyone  is  building  an 
altar  for  himself,  as  the  old  expression  is,  and  bitterly 
resents  every  attempt  towards  unity.  Whatever 
happens,  his  light  must  not  be  put  under  a  bushel, 
even  though  this  light  may  obscure  Judaism  itself. 
He  is  not  the  servant  of  the  law,  but  is  constantly 
endeavoring  to  be  the  lord  of  the  Law.  He  must 
always  be  in  evidence,  whether  by  his  strange  actions, 
or  by  his  peculiar  theories.  It  is  almost  pathetic  to 
look  upon  the  craving  after  publicity  which  has  be- 
come so  prevalent  among  us.  Some  ancient  sage 
said  that  every  day  in  which  he  had  not  performed  a 
righteous  action,  he  considered  as  a  lost  day.  I  am 
afraid  that  the  sickly  craving  after  publicity  has 
become  such  a  passion  with  us  that  some  consider 
that  every  week  in  their  lives  in  which  their  names 
had  not  appeared  before  the  public  as  dead.  To 
what  sensationalism,  either  in  action  or  in  speech, 
such  a  hankering  leads,  I  need  not  explain. 

My   friends,   remember   the   word   of   our   sages: 
"They  will  assign  to  thee  what  is  thine:  they  will 


226  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

call  you  byname  and  place  thee  in  thy  seat.  No  man 
can  touch  what  really  belongs  to  thee,  and  there  is  no 
forgetfulness  with  the  Omnipresent."  The  man  who 
is  really  in  the  service  of  an  ideal  is  not  thinking  of 
himself.  Judaism  is  great  enough  to  fill  out  all  the 
heart  of  man.  The  service  assigned  to  you  is  plain 
enough;  it  is  to  teach  Judaism  and,  as  I  had  occasion 
more  than  once  to  say:  Your  teachings  must  be  of 
a  positive  nature,  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  the  sacred 
language,  Jewish  tradition,  Jewish  law  and  ritual, 
Jewish  doctrine  and  Jewish  history.  Polemics  should 
entirely  be  avoided.  It  is  the  positive  statement, 
strengthened  by  the  life  and  devotion  of  the  preacher 
which  wins  the  hearts  of  men  in  the  end.  Other  sub- 
jects, whether  un-Jewish  or  non-Jewish,  you  had 
better  leave  alone.  Make  also  a  point  of  teaching- 
Jewish  ethics,  devotion  to  the  country,  devotion  to 
duty,  loyalty,  honor,  honesty;  all  these  virtues  are 
taught  by  Judaism  and  in  Judaism,  but  do  not  deceive 
yourself  that  you  will  help  Judaism  much  by  becoming 
exponents  of  topics  belonging  more  to  the  Lyceum 
than  to  the  Synagogue.  Above  all,  bring  heart  and 
enthusiasm  into  your  sacred  task.  Jewish  history 
will  inspire  you  with  all  the  enthusiasm  you  are  in 
need  of.  What  a  wealth  of  great  men  and  great  women 
we  have  had;  how  courageous  they  were  when  it  was 
a  question  of  religion!  Teach  your  congregants  to 
admire  their  devotion,  their  loyalty  and  their  heroism. 
Point  out  to  them  what  an  inheritance  we  have  and 
that,  as  a  fact,  instead  of  boasting  of  our  progress, 
we  are  ethically  still  living  in  the  afterglow  of  what 
we  so  disdainfully  call  ''Ghetto-Judaism."  And 
further,  point  out  what  will  happen  when  this  after- 


QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  RABBI  227 

glow  will  entirely  disappear  and  darkness  will  settle 
upon  our  memory  and  past.  To  take  a  modern  slo- 
gan, "do  justice  to  the  Jew,"  but  also  to  Judaism,  to 
his  history,  to  his  past,  and  his  memories  and  his 
destiny.  Do  it  yourself  and  do  not  invite  outsiders 
constantly  to  do  so.  "Justice  to  the  Jew"  has  become 
a  regular  topic  in  our  papers  and  our  speeches,  and 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  both  preachers  and  laymen  in- 
dulge a  little  too  much  in  it.  If  we  are  not  sufficiently 
humble,  we  ought  at  least  to  be  too  proud  for  such 
things.  Can  you  imagine  an  ancient  Jew,  with  all 
his  degradation,  inviting  strangers  to  give  their 
opinions  about  Jews  and  Judaism?  As  far  as  I  had 
occasion  to  observe,  such  invitations  have,  as  a  rule, 
the  very  opposite  effect  than  that  expected  by  those 
who  solicit  these  opinions.  What  happens  is  some- 
thing the  reverse  of  what  occurred  with  Balaam.  He 
was  invited  to  curse,  and  remained  to  bless.  We 
invite  them  to  bless,  and  not  very  seldom  they  curse. 
In  brief,  do  not  employ  artificial  means  to  strengthen 
your  position  in  the  community.  Judaism  need  not 
be  advertised.  Judaism  needs  to  be  taught.  It  is 
not  the  highest  praise  for  a  Rabbi  that  he  is  invited 
to  preach  in  some  church,  or  that  he  has  succeeded 
in  procuring  some  high  ecclesiastic  or  statesman  to 
preach  in  his  synagogue.  If  you  succeed  in  getting 
the  most  exalted  personage  of  the  United  States  or 
a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  to  preach  in  your 
synagogue,  you  have  only  shown  your  ability  of 
"doing  things,"  as  the  phrase  is.  But  have  you  ever 
thought  that  it  does  not  help  Judaism  with  thought- 
ful men?  It  rather  reflects  upon  our  sense  of  religious 
delicacy,  upon  our  confidence  in  our  own  cause,  or 


228  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

even  self-respect.  And  least  of  all  do  such  successes 
in  the  Rabbinical  career  give  evidence  of  our  devo- 
tion to  the  great  Law  "to  walk  humbly  before  God." 
You  must  never  forget  that  even  the  sermon  is  not 
altogether  an  end  in  itself.  To  a  certain  extent,  it 
is  a  preparation  for  prayer,  teaching  the  Congrega- 
tion to  pray  and  how  to  pray.  As  some  Rabbi  said, 
"Any  homily  which  cannot  be  converted  into  a  prayer 
is  a  misfit,"  and  this  applies  both  to  teaching  and 
preaching. 

My  friends,  I  have  spoken  of  the  spirit  of  Moses, 
but  so  much  abuse  has  been  with  the  word  "spirit," 
contrasting  it  with  the  latter  that  it  will  be  well  that 
I  conclude  with  the  words  of  the  last  Prophet:  "Re- 
member ye  the  law  of  Moses,  my  servant,  which  I 
commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb  for  all  Israel,  the 
statutes  and  judgments." 

Remember  ye,  my  friends,  Rabbis  and  teachers 
gathered  here,  these  "statutes  and  judgments."  It 
is  these  statutes  and  judgments  which  you  have  to 
teach.  General  phrases  about  law  and  legalism  are 
out  of  place.  We  have  sufficiently  indulged  in  the 
"recall."  It  is  now  the  time  to  build  up  and  to  teach 
positive  Judaism  and  to  remember  and  to  remind 
that  the  laws  and  the  statues  are  the  very  life  and 
substance  of  Judaism.  And  this  teaching  again  must 
be  imparted  in  the  spirit  of  meekness  and  humility, 
even  as  Moses  did.  And  further,  remember  that  it 
is  only  the  consciousness  of  being  a  servant  of  God, 
wholly  abandoning  yourself  to  the  sacred  task  which 
is  before  you  which  will  make  your  activity  a  bless- 
ing. May  the  Divine  Presence  rest  upon  the  work 
of  your  hands. 


THE  ASSISTANCE  OF  THE  PUBLIC.* 

THIS  is  an  historical  occasion,  as  we  are  now  to 
celebrate  the  tenth  commencement  of  the 
re-organized  Seminary.  The  occasion  is,  therefore, 
an  auspicious  one.  To  apply  a  Scriptural  metaphor, 
"The  Tenth  shall  be  holy  unto  the  Lord."  And  so  we 
have  gathered  here  to  confer  degrees  upon  a  number 
of  young  men  who  are  to  devote  their  life  to  the 
sacred  calling  of  the  Rabbi,  by  preaching  holiness 
and  all  that  appertaineth  to  it. 

Historical  occasions  invite  to  meditation.  The 
first  subject  of  our  meditation  shall  be  the  past. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  re-organized  Seminary.  But 
it  is  only  meet  and  proper  that  on  this  occasion 
should  be  first  mentioned  the  original  organization 
of  the  Seminary,  of  which  our  institution  is  an  out- 
growth and  a  development.  Last  year,  the  branch 
in  Philadelphia  celebrated  the  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary of  its  original  foundation,  and  I  had  the 
opportunity  to  speak  of  this  interesting  anniversary 
in  public.  By  the  blessing  of  God,  we  have  still 
many  of  the  survivors  who  were  present  at  the 
meeting  at  which  the  establishment  of  a  new  school 
for  the  training  of  Rabbis  was  first  resolved  upon. 
May  God  prolong  their  lives  to  rejoice  with  all  of 
you  at  the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary. 

But  we  have  especially  to  recall  here  some  of  the 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Graduating  Exercises  of  the  Seminary. 
June  8,  1913. 


230  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

names  of  those  who  have  gone  from  us.  I  am  thinking 
of  the  Rev.  Sabato  Morais,  the  original  founder  of 
this  institution,  whose  saintly  character,  whose  un- 
obstrusive  piety  and  whose  loyalty  to  principle  will 
always  remain  an  inspiring  influence  in  the  Seminary; 
of  Mr.  Joseph  Blumenthal,  as  the  President  of  the 
Board,  who  toiled  and  labored  to  maintain  the 
Seminary  under  the  greatest  financial  difficulties; 
and,  further,  of  Dr.  Alexander  Kohut,  who  was 
just  as  great  as  a  Rabbi  :n  the  pulpit  as  he  was  a 
Professor  in  the  classroom,  and  whose  connection 
with  the  Seminary,  in  the  capacity  of  teacher,  gave 
lustre  and  standing  to  our  institution.  All  these 
names  we  record  here  to-day  for  good,  and  their 
memory  shall  not  pass  away  from  among  those  who 
are  connected  with  the  Seminary  in  their  various 
functions  and  offices. 

More  difficult  I  find  it  to  speak  of  the  near 
past.  I  am  referring  to  the  last  ten  or  eleven  years, 
during  which  I  have  had  the  honor  to  preside  over 
the  Seminary. 

I  know  of  nothing  more  distressing  to  a  man 
whose  life  has  been  spent  mostly  in  academic  sur- 
roundings, and  who  has  never  been  initiated  in  the 
gentle  art  of  self-advertisement,  than  the  occasional 
necessity  of  speaking  in  public  of  an  institution 
for  whose  activity  he  is  more  or  less  responsible. 
However,  I  imagine  that  I  owe  it  to  my  colleagues 
and  to  the  Seminary  to  say  a  few  words  also 
about  this  period. 

Our  work  has  been  a  hard  one,  considering  the 
want  of  uniformity  in  the  training  of  those  applying 


THE  ASSISTANCE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  231 

for  admittance,  the  unenviable  conditions  of  the  con- 
gregations to  which  the  Seminary  has  had  to  appeal 
and,  finally,  the  great  divisions  among  the  people 
engendered  by  the  extreme  tendencies  of  the  various 
parties,  be  they  Reform  or  Orthodox,  which  could 
never  understand  a  frame  of  mind  that  refused  to  be 
labeled  by  the  names  they  wished  to  attach  to  it. 

Now,  I  do  not  wish  to  dwell  on  details.  I  shall 
not  enlarge  here  on  the  number  of  our  Rabbis  occupy- 
ing various  pulpits — mostly  Conservative  pulpits — 
all  over  the  country;  nor  on  the  flourishing  condition 
of  the  Teachers'  Institute,  a  regular  outgrowth 
of  the  Seminary,  which  recognized  the  need  of  trained 
religious  teachers  long  before  the  public  at  large 
became  awake  to  it;  nor  shall  I  take  up  your  time  in 
giving  you  a  description  of  our  unique  library.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  Seminary  has,  with  the  aid  of  its 
great  benefactors,  within  this  short  space  of  time, 
been  able  to  build  up  one  of  the  greatest  Hebrew 
libraries  in  the  world,  so  that  the  youngest  of  the 
libraries  among  Jewish  seminaries  is  now  one  of  the 
richest  in  manuscripts  and  rare  prints. 

All  these  are  facts  which  can  be  proved  statis- 
tically. But  there  are  some  things  more  potent  than 
facts,  and  these  are  tendencies  and  ideals.  To  be 
brief,  I  will  only  mention  the  most  prominent  of 
these.  The  first  was  the  creation  of  a  conservative 
tendency  which  was  almost  entirely  absent  or  lay 
dormant  in  this  country  for  a  long  time.  Its  aim  was 
to  preserve  and  to  sustain  traditional  Judaism  in 
all  its  integrity  and,  by  means  of  the  spoken  or 


232  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

written  word,  to  bring  back  to  the  consciousness  of 
Jewry  its  heroic  past,  which  must  serve  as  a  model, 
if  we  would  have  a  glorious  future,  or  any  future  at 
all;  but,  at  the  same  time,  to  remain  in  touch  with 
our  present  surroundings  and  modern  thought,  and 
to  adopt  what  was  the  best  in  them  and,  above  all, 
to  make  use  of  modern  method  and  system. 

The  next  step  was  to  create  a  school  of  Jewish 
learning,  which  should  embrace  all  the  departments  of 
Jewish  thought,  and  give  it  that  scientific  thorough- 
ness and  finish  which  alone  deserves  the  name  of  re- 
search, as  well  as  enable  Judaism  to  compete  with, 
and  to  combat  those  hostile  intellectual  forces  which 
are  often  more  dangerous  to  us  than  pogroms  and 
direct  persecution.  In  both  these  enterprises,  the 
Seminary  has  succeeded  beyond  all  hope.  The  con- 
servative tendency,  which  recently  began  only  as 
a  mere  pious  wish,  has  now  become  a  reality.  It 
permeates  all  the  country  and  affects  (unconsciously, 
it  may  be)  even  those  who  never  tire  of  scolding  us  as 
re-actionaries.  As  to  Jewish  learning,  it  has  become 
a  fact.  American  Jewish  scholarship  is  now  a  recog- 
nized factor  all  over  the  world;  and  you  will  hardly 
find  at  the  present  time  a  Jewish  library  of  conse- 
quence, whether  here  or  abroad,  whether  private  or 
public,  in  which  the  Seminary  is  not  represented  by  one 
publication  or  another  emanating  from  our  faculty. 

But  we  are  only  at  the  beginning  of  our  work. 
The  experience  of  the  past  ten  years,  if  it  has  brought 
to  our  mind  most  vividly  the  nature  of  the  difficulties 
which  we  have  to  conquer,  and  they  are  many  and 


THE  ASSISTANCE  OF  THE.  PUBLIC  233 

great  ones,  has  also  opened  to  us  such  a  wide  vista  of 
possibilities  and  hopes  as  no  other  Jewish  community 
has  to  show.  New  York  itself  forms  the  largest 
Jewish  community  recorded  in  history,  while  the 
country  in  general,  with  its  wise  form  of  government 
and  liberal  institutions,  is,  at  present,  the  only  place 
on  our  globe  where  Israel  can  dwell  in  security  and 
look  forward  to  a  great  future.  If  there  is  a  spot 
in  the  world  where  Jewish  learning,  which  has  so 
often  migrated  from  land  to  land,  should  at  last 
find  a  resting-place  and  develop  freely  in  accordance 
with  its  own  laws,  it  will  be  America.  If  the  labor 
will  be  great,  the  reward  will  be  greater.  To  prepare 
for  this  future,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  Seminary 
not  only  to  continue  on  its  path,  but  even  to  raise 
the  standard  of  its  program  of  teaching,  and  to  in- 
crease its  requirements,  both  for  applicants  and  gradu- 
ates. This  is  the  right  and  the  privilege  of  every 
progressive  institution  of  learning,  after  the  lapse 
of  a  certain  period,  during  which  it  has  fairly  taken 
root  in  the  community. 

The  desired  standard  is  to  be  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. It  is  given  with  reference  to  the  first  appoint- 
ment of  judges  and  leaders  in  Israel,  whose  mission 
it  was  to  give  decisions  to  the  people  who  come 
"to  inquire  of  God."  There  we  read: 

"And  thou  shalt  teach  them  ordinances  and 
laws,  and  shalt  show  them  the  way  wherein  they 
must  walk,  and  the  work  that  they  must  do." 

The  second  clause  of  the  verse  is  generally  inter- 
preted to  refer  to  the  works  of  "loving  kindness," 


234  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

or  what  we  would  call  social  work.  But,  as  you  see, 
the  knowledge  of  the  "ordinances  and  laws"  comes 
first  and  forms  the  basis  of  all.  This  was  the  mental 
equipment  of  the  Judge  in  Israel  who  afterwards 
became  the  model  and  standard  for  all  the  spiritual 
leaders  of  Israel  in  history.  Seminaries  can  teach 
ordinances  and  laws  or  better,  as  the  original  Hebrew 
has  it,  "Toroth,"  a  term  comprehensive  of  all  Jewish 
thought,  whether  deposited  in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the 
Talmud,  whether  it  finds  its  expressions  in  the  les- 
sons of  Jewish  history  and  Jewish  philosophy,  or 
Jewish  poetry  and  Jewish  mysticism.  It  can,  further, 
give  some  direction  in  regard  to  social  work,  in  so 
far  as  it  is  connected  with  the  Torah.  But  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Torah  and  the  spreading  of  its  knowledge 
is,  and  will  remain,  the  Seminary's  first  and  paramount 
duty.  I  know  that  we  live  in  a  time  and  under  con- 
ditions in  which  social  work  has  become  an  important 
factor  in  the  life  of  our  communities,  and  am  some- 
times even  inclined  not  to  press  the  question  of 
knowledge  to  its  full  claim,  when  I  see  in  a  young  man 
a  bent  of  mind  which  makes  him  useful  to  do,  as  the 
phrase  is,  good  work  as  Rabbi.  But  we  must  never 
lose  sight  of  the  Toroth,  which  is  the  primary  object 
of  seminaries.  Nor  must  the  Rabbi  lose  sight  of 
it.  And  I  implore  you,  my  young  friends  even  after 
you  have  entered  office,  never  to  allow  a  day  to  pass 
without  devoting  a  certain  amount  of  time  to  the 
acquiring  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Torah.  If  it  should 
happen  that  a  certain  number  among  you  should  be 
so  carried  away  in  the  zeal  for  the  Torah,  as  to  engage 


THE  ASSISTANCE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  235 

in  original  research,  and  write  some  great  book  on 
some  Jewish  subject,  it  would  certainly  not  be  a 
calamity.  American  Jewry  is  now  strong  enough 
to  afford  a  few  real  scholars  in  the  ranks  of  its  clergy. 
Such  scholars  elsewhere  prove,  as  a  rule,  an  ornament 
to  the  church  to  which  they  belong,  and  the  Syn- 
agogue should  not  remain  behind  in  this  respect. 
They  are  the  men  who  provide  their  denomination 
with  ideas  and  ideals,  which  are  converted  into  small 
cash  by  the  weaker  brethren  before  they  reach  the 
public.  There  is  room  in  the  Synagogue  for  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  Rabbis,  but  the  rabbi-scholar  must 
not  be  allowed  to  disappear  if  Judaism  is  not  to  be 
reduced  to  the  straits  of  a  mere  ranting  sect,  if  our 
places  of  worship  shall  not  become  settlement  houses 
in  disguise,  and  our  seminaries  mere  sociological 
institutions.  In  Judaism,  everything  must  emanate 
from  the  Torah  and  culminate  in  it.  We  cannot 
live  entirely  for  the  fleeting  moment.  We  have  duties  to 
the  past  and  to  the  future,  and  these  duties  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  raising  the  standard  of  knowledge 
of  the  Torah  in  the  Rabbinate.  To  achieve  this  end, 
we  must,  however,  have  the  assistance  of  the  public. 
As  you  have  observed  in  the  citation  given  from  Exo- 
dus, this  command  as  to  the  qualification  of  the  judges 
was  given  in  answer  to  a  need  felt  by  a  people  "com- 
ing to  inquire  of  God."  Unless  such  a  need  is  felt  in 
our  times,  the  Seminary  will  never  be  able  to  do  its 
full  duty.  The  public  must  feel  the  need  of  a  learned 
rabbi,  so  as  to  enable  us  to  increase  the  years  of  study 
in  our  institution.  There  must  be  a  demand  for  the 


236  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

knowledge  of  laws  and  statutes,  in  other  words,  of 
the  Torah,  and  all  that  appertains  to  it,  so  as  to  give 
the  better  scholar  the  better  opportunity  in  life  and 
the  greater  field  for  his  work.  The  Jewish  public 
must  begin  to  show  this  interest  in  its  learned  insti- 
tutions and  aid  it  in  its  task  by  the  material  and  moral 
support,  which  it  has  always  shown  to  philanthropic 
institutions.  If  the  Seminary  is  to  develop  on  the 
lines  begun  thus  far,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
it  should  have  the  disposition  of  larger  means  than 
hitherto.  Thus,  it  is  important  that  a  "publication 
fund"  should  be  created,  enabling  the  faculty  to  give 
to  the  world  annually,  at  least,  a  volume  or  two  of 
scientific  production.  We  want  also  more  scholar- 
ships and  more  valuable  ones  that  would  enable  us 
to  keep  the  student  for  some  longer  period  in  the 
Seminary.  The  age  at  which  young  men  are  now  sent 
out  to  conduct  the  spiritual  affairs  of  congregations 
is  certainly  too  early  and  is  against  all  precedent. 
We  want  Fellowships  to  encourage  original  research 
among  our  alumni,  immediately  after  graduation. 
We  have  men  who  give  great  promise  in  this  regard, 
but  we  are  unfortunately  not  in  a  position  to  enable 
them  to  continue  their  researches  without  immediately 
taking  up  practical  work.  We  want,  further,  dormi- 
tories for  our  students.  The  longer  I  live  in  this 
country  and  the  more  familiar  I  become  with  the 
conditions,  economic  as  well  as  spiritual,  the  more 
convinced  I  am  that  such  an  arrangement  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  make  the  work  of  the  teachers 
effective,  and  the  life  of  the  students  fairly  comfortable. 


THE  ASSISTANCE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  237 

It  is  high  time  that  American  Jewry  should  recognize 
the  claims  of  the  Jewish  student,  generally  called  in 
Jewish  literature,  "the  Sons  of  the  Torah."  Thus 
far,  we  have  treated  them  as  step-sons.  It  is  only  by 
the  co-operation  of  the  public  and  their  sympathy 
with  the  student  and  his  work  that  a  knowledge  of 
the  Torah  will  again  become  the  criterion  of  the 
Rabbi,  that  religious  education  will  become  effect- 
ive as  it  should  be,  and  that  harmony  and  mutual 
understanding  will  be  brought  about  in  the  various 
sections  of  the  community.  Or,  to  speak  in  biblical 
language,  forming  the  conclusion  of  the  passage 
quoted  from  Exodus: 

"If  thou  shalt  do  this  thing  and  God  command 
thee  so,  then  thou  shalt  be  able  to  endure  and  all  this 
people  shall  also  go  to  their  place  in  peace." 


HIS  MAJESTY'S  OPPOSITION.* 

AT  THE  request  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America, 
at  the  wish  of  my  colleagues,  as  well  as  following  my 
own  inclination,  I  have  come  here  to  offer  you  our 
congratulations  on  this  auspicious  occasion,  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  new  buildings  of  the  Hebrew  Union 
College.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  have  seen  this  great 
edifice  with  its  commodious  halls,  its  well-equipped 
library  and  its  fine  classrooms,  erected  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  at  the  same  time  forming  a  monument 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Dr.  Isaac  M.  Wise, 
the  founder  of  this  Institution.  I  remember  to  have 
read  once,  in  a  book  by  an  early  American  writer, 
who  complained  of  the  want  of  distinguished  men  in 
this  country,  and  of  the  lack  of  reverence  to  the  few 
great  names  we  do  possess.  These  buildings,  bearing 
the  name  of  one  of  the  leaders  of  Reform  Judaism 
in  America,  removes  this  reproach.  It  shows  that  we 
are  now  beginning  to  learn  the  meaning  of  reverence 
and  authority,  for  even  Reform  Judaism  cannot  live 
without  authority. 

I  here  take  the  opportunity  of  putting  on  record 
my  thanks  to  the  family  of  the  late  Dr.  Isaac  M.  Wise. 
I  had  not  the  honor  of  knowing  the  head  of  the  family, 
who  had  already  been  taken  from  us  before  I  removed 
to  this  country,  but  I  had  the  pleasure  of  making  the 

*Address  delivered  at  the  Dedication  of  the  new  Hebrew  Union 
College  Buildings,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  January  22,   1913. 


240  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Wise  very  soon  after  my  arrival 
in  America.  And  I  acknowledge  here  with  thanks 
that  both  she  and  her  sons,  as  well  as  other  members 
of  the  Wise  family,  always  treated  me  with  uniform 
kindness  and  attention.  And  this  in  spite  of  all  my 
heresies  regarding  Reform  Judaism  and  other  theologi- 
cal frailties  symptomatic  of  my  want  of  sympathy 
with  reform  tendencies,  of  which  I  have  never  made 
any  secret. 

My  pleasure  is  not  spoiled  by  hearing  and  seeing 
so  much  here  from  which  I  of  necessity  differ.  Indeed, 
if  I  were  in  agreement  with  you,  I  would  have  been 
deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  being  here  today ;  at  least, 
in  the  capacity  of  President  of  another  college  pur- 
suing, to  a  certain  extent,  different  aims  and  endeav- 
oring to  realize  them  by  largely  different  methods. 
Least  of  all  would  I,  a  mere  student,  without  the 
least  forensic  ability,  have  a  right  to  speak  in  this 
distinguished  gathering  consisting  of  so  many  great 
scholars  and  orators,  as  your  illustrious  President 
and  other  Rabbis  here  who  have  grown  old  in  the 
service  of  the  Synagogue  and  famous  for  their  gifts 
of  oratory  and  speech.  But  there  is  also  another 
consideration.  Probably  you  all  know  the  way  in 
which  some  English  statesmen  speak  of  their  oppo- 
nents in  the  Parliament,  referring  to  them  as  His 
Majesty's  Opposition.  This  sounds  like  a  paradox, 
yet  it  contains  a  deep  truth,  implying  as  it  does  that 
both  His  Majesty's  government  as  well  as  His 
Majesty's  opposition  form  one  large  community, 
working  for  the  welfare  of  the  country  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  nation.  The  same  principle  may  also 
be  applied  to  theology,  there  being,  under  Providence, 


HIS  MAJESTY'S  OPPOSITION  241 

room  also  for  the  opposition  party,  which  has  its 
purpose  and  mission  assigned  to  it  by  history.  Of 
course,  there  are  exceptions,  but  generally  there  is 
hardly  any  phenomenon  in  Judaism  in  the  way  of 
sect  or  movement  which  has  not  served  a  certain 
purpose  in  the  divine  economy  of  our  history. 

For  opposition  there  must  be,  owing  to  the 
difference  of  temper  and  temperament,  the  difference 
of  training,  the  difference  of  surroundings  which  no 
process  of  schooling  can  entirely  obliterate,  and  the 
difference  of  opportunity.  Of  course,  it  will  always 
be  a  question  as  to  which  is  which ;  we  Conservatives 
maintaining  that  we  are  His  Majesty's  Government 
and  you  His  Majesty's  Opposition.  But  this  is  one 
of  the  differences.  For  reduce  your  differences  as 
much  as  you  want,  and,  indeed,  I  hope  and  pray  that 
the  difference  of  aims  is  not  so  deep  as  we  sometimes 
think,  the  fact  remains  that  wre  are  unfortunately 
divided  both  in  questions  of  doctrine — at  least 
certain  doctrines — and  even  more  in  practice.  But, 
thank  God,  there  are  still  a  great  many  things  and 
aims  for  which  both  parties  can  work  in  perfect 
harmony  and  peace,  and  unite  us.  To  mention  here 
only  two:  There  is,  first,  the  question  of  Jewish 
learning,  which  concerns  us  all.  This,  as  has  often 
been  pointed  out,  can  only  be  accomplished  by  the 
Jews  and  for  the  Jews.  No  outsider  can  do  it  for  us 
even  when  representing  the  most  liberal  point  of 
view,  for  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  Jewish  liberalism 
and  a  non-Jewish  liberalism,  as  my  friend,  the 
learned  President  of  this  College,  knows  as  well  as 
I.  To  this,  any  student  keeping  pace  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  theology,  philosophy  and  history  will 


242  SEMI N A RY  A DDRESSES 

bear  evidence.  We  have  thus  to  do  our  scholarship 
for  ourselves.  I  had  only  lately  an  experience  of 
this  fact.  In  the  course  of  my  studies  I  found  it 
necessary  to  read  a  certain  book  dealing  with  the 
geography  of  Eastern  Europe  in  the  tenth  century. 
You  would  think  that  with  such  a  book  on  such  a 
neutral  subject  one  might  feel  safe.  But  it  was  full 
of  venom  and  hatred  giving  evidence  to  the  anti- 
Semitic  tendencies  of  the  author.  The  most  amusing 
thing  was  that  the  subject  of  his  special  attack  in 
whom  he  discovered  so  much  Rabbinical  confusion 
and  Talmudic  aberrations,  etc.,  was  Paulus  Cassell, 
who  became  converted  to  Christianity  some  fifty 
years  ago.  But  there  is  a  practical  side  to  this  ques- 
tion, touching  also  the  larger  Jewish  public.  I  am 
thinking  especially  of  the  problem  of  text-books  for 
our  teachers  of  religious  schools  and  educated  lay- 
men. At  present  we  recur  to  works  written  or  com- 
piled by  Christian  authors.  This  must  not  be  allowed 
to  continue.  This  class  of  books,  which  should  have 
the  purpose  of  imbuing  our  children  with  loyalty 
and  devotion  and  attachment  to  Judaism,  should  be 
composed  by  ourselves.  Christian  works  on  the  same 
line  will  not  help  us  to  bring  up  our  children  as  Jews. 
We  cannot  have  our  love  letters  written  for  us.  We 
must  write  them  ourselves,  even  at  the  risk  of  bad 
grammar.  And  this  is  a  work  in  which  both  parties, 
realizing  the  nature  of  the  problem,  can  work  together. 
This  is  a  specimen  of  work  for  the  Jew  and  by  the 
Jew.  But  there  is  also  the  great  work  which  Judaism 
can  do  for  humanity  at  large,  in  which  both  parties 
can  combine.  It  is  only  sufficient  to  mention  here  the 


HIS  MAJESTY'S  OPPOSITION  243 

terrible  atrocities  perpetrated  under  the  eyes  of 
Europe  in  the  Near  East.  Men,  women  and  children, 
all  non-combatants,  are  slaughtered  by  the  thousands 
every  day,  their  number  amounting  to  half  a  million 
already,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the  newspapers. 
And  yet,  no  real  moral  indignation  is  seen  anywhere. 
We  simply  put  away  our  papers  and  enjoy  our  break- 
fast as  if  nothing  had  happened.  We  have  become  so 
infatuated  with  the  doctrine  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  that  we  have  lost  all  sensibility  to  the  great 
moral  catastrophes  which  are  passing  before  our  very 
eyes.  And  the  more  philosophy,  the  more  heartless 
we  become.  The  world  is  thus  in  need  of  new  instruc- 
tion, and  this  instruction,  as  history  has  taught  at 
various  epochs,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Reformation, 
can  only  come  from  the  Old  Testament. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  has  always  been  taught 
by  Judaism,  but  this  is  a  time  in  which  the  aspect  of 
the  Holy  King,  and  the  King  of  Judgment,  who  not 
only  reigns,  but  governs,  should  be  emphasized.  As 
my  friend,  Dr.  Kohler,  has  expressed  himself  in  his 
recent  very  interesting  essay  on  the  subject:  Die 
Naechstenliebe  in  Judenthum: 

"Nun,  ich  moechte  als  Theologie  die  Liebe  nicht 
missen,  aber  ich  verlange  als  Jude,  erst  Gerechtigkeit 
und  dann  Liebe." 

("As  theologian,  I  should  not  like  to  miss  the 
principle  of  love,  but  as  a  Jew  I  expect  first  justice 
and  afterwards  love.") 

These  great  principles  of  God's  holiness,  God's 
justice  and  God's  governing  the  world,  are  to  be 
especially  taught  now.  And  they  must  be  taught 


244  BOOK  OF  ADDRESSES 

for  years  and  years  to  come.  The  whole  of  Jewish 
literature  forms  a  commentary  to  it;  the  whole  of 
Jewish  history  forms  an  illustration  of  it;  the  whole 
of  Jewish  life  should  bear  evidence  to  it.  And  in 
this  work  we  can  all  combine  in  teaching.  But  in 
order  to  teach,  we  must  first  learn  and  practice. 
And  this  is  the  purpose  for  which  colleges  are  estab- 
lished. And  thus  may  God's  blessing  be  upon  this 
College,  among  all  other  colleges  of  Catholic  Israel 
^KW1  hb3,  in  which  these  great  truths  of  Judaism 
shall  be  taught  and  learned,  and  then  proclaimed  to 
the  world,  in  all  their  purity  and  in  all  their  applica- 
tion to  the  different  and  various  departments  of  life 
and  thought. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  also  to  thank  Dr.  Kohler,  the 
President  of  this  College,  as  well  as  all  those  gathered 
here,  for  the  kind  reception  which  has  been  accorded 
me.  I  was  really  touched  by  the  honor  you  have 
shown  me.  May  God  reward  you  for  this  act  of 
Gemillath  Chasadim.  "For  my  brethren  and  com- 
panions' sakes,  I  will  now  say,  Peace  be  within  thee. 
Because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God  I  will  seek 
thy  good." 


"LOVINGKINDNESS  AND  TRUTH."* 

MY  FRIENDS: — It  is  a  source  of  great  pleasure 
to  me  to  be  with  you  on  this  auspicious  day, 
&  privilege  which  was  denied  to  me  last  year.  For 
this  change  in  my  condition,  I  am  deeply  grateful 
to  Almighty  God,  who  kept  me  alive  and  has  pre- 
served me  and  enabled  me  to  reach  this  season. 

My  first  duty  would  be  to  congratulate  you  on 
behalf  of  the  Faculty  and  myself  on  this  great  occa- 
sion, which  enables  you  to  enter  on  the  sacred  call- 
ing of  Rabbi.  The  nature  of  this  sacred  calling  has 
been  sufficiently  discussed  in  the  class  rooms.  Every 
lecture  delivered  there,  whether  it  be  on  the  Sacred 
Writ  and  its  commentators,  or  on  the  Talmud  and  its 
cognate  literature,  or  on  historical  documents  and 
philosophic  and  theological  works  by  Jewish  thinkers, 
ought  to  have  impressed  you  with  the  magnitude  of 
your  task  and  the  solemn  character  of  your  respon- 
sibility. It  is  a  peculiar  world  into  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  introduce  you.  This  world,  generally 
called  Judaism,  sometimes  also,  to  take  a  somewhat 
more  concrete  term,  the  Synagogue,  is  a  world  within 
a  world,  or  rather  a  Sanctuary,  symbolizing  as  the 
Tabernacle  of  old,  Creation  and  the  Universe,  even 
whilst  its  long  wanderings  through  the  "Wilderness  of 
the  nations,"  renders  it  a  veritable  epitome  of  the 
history  of  mankind.  The  Torah  is  the  "Book  of  the 

*  Address  delivered  at  Commencement  Exercises  of  the  Jewish 
Theological  Seminary,  June  6,  1915. 


246  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

Generations  of  Man"  or  "The  history  of  mankind  writ- 
ten in  advance;"  whilst  the  great  Hebrew  Rabbinic 
literature  developing  from  it,  forms  the  contemporary 
chronicle  of  the  noblest  and  the  most  sublime  thoughts 
of  Israel  during  the  long  period  following  the  con- 
clusion of  the  Canon.  But  as  with  the  Levites  of  old, 
it  is  upon  you  to  carry  on  the  service  of  the  Sanc- 
tuary, to  make  its  symbolism  intelligible  to  the 
laity,  to  perpetuate  its  history,  and  to  preach  to  the 
world  at  large  its  ideals  and  aspirations. 

And  now,  a  glance  at  the  present  and  the  im- 
mediate future.  We  live  in  awful  times.  It  is  a 
world  in  conflagration.  We  cannot  divert  our  eyes 
from  it.  We  dare  not  remain  indifferent.  Any  man, 
to  whatever  party  he  may  belong,  whatever  his 
descent  may  be,  who  does  not,  when  reading  his 
morning  or  evening  paper,  feel  sometimes  as  if  his 
heart  would  break  at  this  terrible  suffering  of  human- 
ity— in  which  Israel  is  the  greatest  sufferer  among  the 
nations — must,  to  say  the  least,  be  classed  among  those 
whom  the  late  Mr.  Gladstone  described  as  having 
come  into  the  world  with  a  "double  dose  of  the 
original  sin."  The  situation  can  only  be  depicted  in 
the  words  of  the  Prophet:  "Blood  and  fire  and  pil- 
lars of  smoke,"  preceding  the  great  and  terrible 
Day  of  the  Lord.  An  ancient  Jew  would  have  per- 
ceived in  it  the  travail  of  the  universe,  ushering  in 
the  rebirth  of  the  world,  or  to  use  a  term  which  is 
now  greatly  in  vogue,  the  regeneration  of  humanity. 
What  shape  this  regeneration  will  take  is  difficult 
to  say;  but  if  all  signs  are  not  deceiving,  if  the  world 
is  not  to  sink  under  its  own  burden,  if  humanity 


LOVINGKINDNESS  AND  TRUTH  247 

is  not  to  witness  such  a  reversion  to  chaos  as  fol- 
lowed the  breakdown  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
similar  world  catastrophes — then  it  will  not  be  in 
the  direction  of  the  religion  of  valor.  It  will  be  a 
return  to  the  religion  of  Israel,  whose  great  invoca- 
tion in  the  most  solemn  prayer  of  the  most  solemn 
day  of  the  year  is  "The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merci- 
ful and  gracious,  long  suffering  and  abundant  in 
lovingkindness  and  truth."  HOST  TOP!  311 

My  friends,  it  will  be  a  chastened  humanity 
which  will  emerge  from  a  destroyed  world,  strewn 
with  the  debris  of  broken  idols  and  shattered  ideals 
on  which  we  have  been  spending  our  energies  for  the 
last  decades.  Strength,  force,  astuteness  and  similar 
virtues,  desirable  in  themselves  as  manifestations  of 
vigorous  manhood  but  dangerously  bordering  on 
violence  and  brutality,  will  be  less  valued  than 
meekness,  gentleness,  sweetness  of  disposition  and 
humility.  It  will  not  be  the  strong  man,  but  the  good 
man,  the  affectionate  man,  who  will  form  the  desired 
goal  of  parents  and  pedagogues.  Organization  itself, 
this  great  achievement  of  our  age,  will  largely  give 
way  to  generous  impulses  and  broad  sympathies.  I 
by  no  means  underrate  the  value  and  the  importance 
of  organization.  It  certainly  turns  mobs  into  socie- 
ties and  societies  into  powerful  units.  It  is  for  the 
adult  what  method  and  system  are  for  the  young  in 
the  school.  But  it  can  decidedly  be  overdone,  and 
if  not  under  the  control  of  a  strong  moral  principle, 
touched  by  kindness  ai>d  goodness,  modifying  the 
severity  and  its  tendency  to  inconsiderateness,  it  is 
more  likely  to  further  passion  than  compassion. 


248  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

The  same  is  true  of  efficiency,  which  has  constantly 
to  be  qualified  by  fitness.  To  give  an  illustration 
or  two:  A  letter  in  the  papers  forming  a  part  of  the 
controversy  about  a  certain  religious  leader  much 
in  evidence  now,  bore  the  heading,  "Coarse,  but 
shows  Results."  Here  you  have  a  case  of  efficiency 
lacking  in  fitness,  with  a  vengeance.  To  speak  of 
Rabbis  in  particular:  it  may  happen  that  the  Rabbi 
is  successful  in  attracting  large  audiences,  and  in 
having  every  pew  of  his  synagogue  sold,  and  in  see- 
ing his  name  in  the  press  every  day  of  the  week. 
This  may  be  termed  efficiency.  But  if  he  is  not  at 
the  same  time  a  God-fearing  man,  an  observer  of  the 
Jewish  law,  living  an  unselfish  life,  and  giving  evi- 
dence of  his  humility  and  meekness,  he  is  certainly 
unfit  for  his  calling,  and  all  his  activity  will  result 
in  destruction. 

Above  all  will  this  regeneration  be  felt  in  the 
Synagogue.  The  pulpit  will  cease  to  be  an  institu- 
tion of  self-glorification,  boasting  of  our  successes 
in  various  departments  of  secular  endeavor.  This  is 
sufficiently  done  by  our  friends  outside  of  the  Syn- 
agogue, and  even  more  often  by  our  open  and  dis- 
guised enemies,  such  as  Werner  Sombart  in  his 
book,  "The  Jew  and  Capitalism,"  or  John  Foster 
Fraser  in  his  "The  Conquering  Jew." 

Nor  must  we  indulge  in  emphasizing  too  much 
the  question  of  our  mission.  Such  topics  are  only 
provoking  of  criticism.  To  have  a  mission,  but  never 
to  be  able  to  point  to  the  missionaries  and  their 
achievements,  is  an  awkward  position  to  say  the  least. 
I  would  not  even  advise  you  to  enlarge  too  frequently 
on  the  feature  of  nationalism.  It  is  certainly  justi- 


LOVINGKINDNESS  AND  TRUTH  249 

fied  as  a  protest  against  Paulinistic  tendencies  or 
as  a  safeguard  against  assimilation.  But  the  most 
sublime  expressions  of  Jewish  nationalism  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible  and  the  Prayer  Book.  Here  a 
specimen  from  the  latter,  "O  Guardian  of  an  only 
nation,  guard  the  remnant  of  an  only  nation,  and  suffer 
not  an  only  nation  to  perish,  who  proclaim  the  unity 
of  Thy  name,  saying,  'The  Lord  our  God,  the  Lord 
is  One.'  '  But  the  nationalism  of  the  purely  secular 
kind  as  taught  by  certain  philosophers  and  historians 
within  the  last  two  generations  leading  to  the  excesses 
which  we  are  witnessing  now  all  over  the  world  had 
better  be  relegated  to  the  lecture  platform.  Jewish 
nationalism  can  be  interpreted  only  in  the  light  of 
Jewish  History  and  pure  Jewish  thought.  Moreover, 
the  world  is  sure  to  combine  against  the  fanaticism  of 
modern  Chauvinism  just  as  it  did  combine  in  the 
eighteenth  century  against  religious  fanaticism.  And 
Judaism  should  ponder  deeply  before  it  entirely 
identifies  itself  with  this  sort  of  exaggerated  secular 
nationalism.  An  ancient  Jewish  moralist  had  the 
maxim:  "If  you  are  in  the  humor  of  praising,  praise 
God;  if  you  are  in  the  frame  of  mind  of  blaming, 
blame  yourself."  And  I  am  certain  that  the  time 
has  come  when  this  maxim  will  be  applied  as  much 
to  whole  groups  of  humanity  as  to  individuals. 
Jewish  nationalism  is  holy  to  the  Lord,  and  any  at- 
tempt to  sever  it  from  the  historical  Jewish  ideals 
attached  to  the  Biblical  terms  "God's  People,"  or 
a  "Holy  Nation,"  will  fail  in  the  end. 

IDPI  (Chesed)  loving-kindness,  and  HDS  (Em- 
eth)  truth,  must  again  become  the  subjects  of  in- 
struction in  our  places  of  worship.  The  great  truth 


250  SEMINARY  ADDRESSES 

in  need  of  being  realized  at  the  present  crisis  is  the 
fact  of  sin.  Once  more  we  should  repeat  the  formula 
of  the  liturgy:  "Verily  we  have  sinned."  I  lay  the 
emphasis  on  we,  as  certain  views  are  now  in  the  air 
recalling  to  our  minds  the  Scriptural  adage: 

"The  foolishness  of  man  perverteth  his 
way;  and  his  heart  fretteth  against  the  Lord." 
(Prov.  19:3.) 

We  do  not  fret  directly  against  the  Lord,  but  we 
fret  against  religion.  "Religion  is  a  failure,  else  this 
terrible  catastrophe  would  never  have  occurred." 
This  is  the  statement  made  on  all  sides.  But  is  it  re- 
ligion that  is  a  failure?  Have  we  been  living  in  a  really 
religious  age  when  this  calamity  overwhelmed  us? 
Has  there  been  any  doctrine  which  has  remained 
unassailed  during  the  last  two  generations;  any 
portion  of  the  Scriptures,  which  has  escaped  heartless 
dissection;  any  religious  symbol  or  ceremony  which 
was  not  slighted  more  or  less?  Almost  every  ideal 
sanctioned  by  tradition  and  the  consent  of  humanity 
has  been  boldly  challenged,  whilst  many  a  noble 
sentiment  almost  inherent  in  the  race  and  taken  for 
granted  by  humanity  at  large,  has  been  ridiculed  and 
looked  upon  as  an  impediment  to  the  perfection  of  a 
misunderstood  manhood.  "Everybody  at  all  familiar 
with  the  trend  of  thought  could  feel  that  we're  stand- 
ing on  a  veritable  volcano  created  by  the  upheavals  of 
the  newest  methods  of  "searching  research"  which 
respects  as  little  the  new  formulae,  such  as  the  cate- 
goric imperative  and  conscience,  as  it  does  creeds  and 
dogmas."  And  now,  when  all  the  sources  of  our  in- 
spiration had  been  destroyed  and  laid  dry,  we  expected 


LOVINGKINDNESS  AND  TRUTH  251 

religion  to  quench  this  world  conflagration.  The  wife 
of  Job,  as  you  know,  said  to  her  husband,  ' 'Curse 
God  and  die!"  We  blasphemed  religion  and  wanted 
to  live.  It  proved  impossible.  It  is  this  truth  that 
it  has  been  we  who  have  been  the  failure,  not  religion , 
which  it  will  be  your  duty  as  Rabbis  in  Israel  to  im- 
press upon  your  Congregations. 

Where  we  mainly  failed  was  in  the  attribute  of 
1DJ1  (Chesed).  When  speaking  of  Chesed,  I  am  think- 
ing of  the  term  in  all  its  connotations — kindness, 
loving-kindness,  goodness,  mercy,  affection,  pity, 
piety,  forbearance,  gentleness,  gracefulness  and  gra- 
ciousness.  It  is  this  Chesed  as  an  emanation  of  the 
Divine,  which  should  become  the  prominent  feature 
in  all  our  great  Jewish  enterprises.  Charity,  for 
instance,  must  not  be  allowed  to  be  converted  into 
a  mere  department  of  Political  Economy.  I  have 
read  lately  an  article  under  the  title  of  "Humanizing 
our  Charities."  But  humanizing  alone  will  not  suffice. 
Charity  must  be  restored  to  its  pristine  Divine 
right,  the  only  Divine  right  which  a  democracy 
recognizes,  and  should  be  allowed  to  call  forth  til 
those  noble  impulses  in  man  which  may  be  summed 
up  as  the  Imitatio  Dei  of  the  Jew.  If  our  philanthropic 
work  cannot  for  practical  reasons  any  longer  form  a 
part  of  the  activity  of  the  Synagogue,  as  it  was  in 
days  of  yore,  it  must  not  on  the  other  hand  be  allowed 
to  become  so  detached  from  all  religion  as  to  obscure 
entirely  the  feature  of  Chesed  or  the  religious  touch 
which  sanctifies  the  giver  and  elevates  the  recipient. 
Indeed,  the  great  danger  of  our  age  is  the  tendency 
towards  secularizing  life  and  thought  in  all  its  as- 
pects, even  those  aspects  which  originated  in  the  Sane- 


252  SEMI N A RY  A D DRESSES 

tuary,  grew  up  with  the  Sanctuary,  and  thrived  under 
its  shelter  from  time  immemorial.  The  Sacred  Writ, 
it  is  maintained,  is  to  be  studied  as  a  mere  ancient 
classic,  not  as  a  Torah  of  TDn  (Torath  Chesed)  a  gift 
to  Israel  by  Divine  grace.  Religion  is  to  be  taught  as 
a  part  of  Hebraic  culture,  not  as  a  discipline  of  life 
for  the  sake  of  God  or  Torah  lishmah.  Jewish 
endeavor  in  the  line  of  Jewish  settlements  and 
kindred  social  work  is  to  be  conducted  on  non- 
religious  lines,  a  peculiar  sort  of  neutrality,  but 
certainly  not  a  friendly  neutrality.  Silence  in  re- 
ligion means  hostility.  The  synagogue  itself,  affec- 
tionately called  by  our  ancestors  Bmp  DIpQ  (Makom 
Kadosh)  a  Sacred  Place,  is  to  be  largely  stripped 
of  its  sacred  features.  It  is  to  make  room  for  the 
Institutional  Synagogue  in  which  the  worship  of  God 
by  reason  of  its  organization  must  become  in  the 
end  subordinated  to  the  material  service  of  man  and 
his  amusements. 

It  is  this  constant  encroaching  upon  the  rights 
of  the  Sanctuary,  leaving  no  room  for  the  sacred 
and  the  holy,  which  landed  us  in  a  materialism,  the 
consequences  of  which  are  only  visible  now.  Chesed 
is  banished  from  the  world.  It  is  a  world  with- 
out pity  and  without  piety.  The  task  of  the  Rabbi 
as  the  guardian  of  the  Sanctuary,  is  to  cry  a  halt 
to  these  encroachments,  and  to  restore  the  Sanctuary 
to  its  own  rights.  The  task  will  not  be  easy,  and 
the  less  so  as  such  a  restoration  of  the  sacred  and 
holy  in  our  midst  would  imply  a  censure  of  many 
an  activity  of  ours  as  not  less  a  subversion  of  many  a 
philosophy  bearing  upon  man  and  his  destiny  in 
which  we  have  revelled  until  now.  As  Lincoln  ex- 


LOVINGKINDNESS  AND  TRUTH  253 

pressed  it  in  his  famous  letter  to  Thurlow  Weed  with 
reference  to  his  Second  Inaugural  Address,  forming 
practically  a  confession  of  the  national  sin:  "I  be- 
lieve," he  wrote,  "it  is  not  immediately  popular. 
Men  are  not  nattered  by  being  shown  that  there 
has  been  a  difference  of  purpose  between  the  Al- 
mighty and  them."  But  you  must  do  your  duty 
even  at  the  risk  of  not  pleasing  everybody.  The 
rights  of  the  Sanctuary  are  clear.  Its  province  is 
sufficiently  marked,  and  its  mission  at  this  time  is 
sufficiently  urgent. 

The  world  cannot  exist  without  a  Sanctuary  and 
cannot  live  without  Chesed,  even  as  it  is  said :  "Surely 
goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of 
my  life,  and  I  will  dwell  in  the  House  of  the  Lord 
forever." 


LD  21-100W-7  ' 


.'39(402 


